Strategic Family Therapy and Substance Abuse focuses on helping families address adolescent substance abuse issues. It is based on the work of Milton Erickson and developed further by Jay Haley. Brief Strategic Family Therapy involves 9-12 sessions to help families help themselves by preserving the family unit. It uses a strategic approach focused on the family system and identifying repetitive patterns of interaction rather than the content of discussions. The goal is to eliminate or reduce the adolescent's substance use and associated problem behaviors.

1. Strategic Family Therapy and Substance Abuse By Paulette and Fredi

2. What is it? Strategic Family Therapy comes from the work of Milton Erickson, reknown for his hypnotist work. Jay Haley, one of the founders of the Mental Research Institute and a pioneer in family therapy, continued Erickson’s work and calls it Strategic because, “ It is a therapy where the therapist initiates what happens during the therapy, designs a specific approach for each person’s presenting problem, and where the therapist takes direct responsibility for directly influencing people.”

3. Brief Strategic Family Therapy 9 – 12 sessions Philosophy: to help families help themselves and to preserve the family unit, whenever possible Five theoretical concepts that comprise the basic foundation of BSFT

4. BSFT 1.) Context: the adolescent lives within a family and neighborhood, has peers and cultures which derive the rules, values and behaviors of the adolescent – counseling as context (set of rules, expectations and experiences).

5. BSFT 2.) Systems: Made up of parts that are interdependent and interrelated. Families are systems made up of individuals (parts) who are responsive (interrelated) to each other’s behaviors. Families are to be viewed as a whole organism. Each family member becomes accustomed to act, react, and respond in a specific manner within the family.

6. BSFT 3.) Structure: Family interactions are through actions or conversations. Families interactions become habitual and repetitive and are called "patterns of interaction". It’s as if a script is being followed during interactions

7. BSFT 4.) Strategy: Interventions are strategic in that they are practical, problem-focused and planned. Practical: BSFT uses whatever technique, approach or strategy that will help change the maladaptive interactions that contribute to or maintain the family’s presenting problem. These may be borrowed from other treatment modalities.

8. BSFT 5.) Problem-focused: Counselor makes a choice about which problems to zero in on even if there are other problems that are noticed. If they do not relate to the family dynamics that directly influence the adolescent’s problem behaviors, they do not become a priority.

9. Content vs. Process Content of therapy refers to what family members talk about, including their explanations for family problems, beliefs about how problems should be managed, perspectives about who or what causes the problems, and other topics.

10. Content vs. Process Process of therapy refers to how family members interact, including the degree to which family members listen to, support, interrupt, undermine, and express emotion to one another, as well as ways of interacting. Identified by the behaviors that are involved in a family interaction,. Nonverbal behavior included here. (Content gets the counselor off track.)

11. Content vs. Process THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN CONTENT AND PROCESS IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL TO BSFT. TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY REPETITIVE PATTERNS OF INTERACTION, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE BSFT COUNSELOR FOCUS ON THE PROCESS RATHER THAN THE CONTENT OF THERAPY.

12. Principles: Family Systems Approach Family members are interdependent What affects one family member affects other family members Patterns of interaction in the family influence the behavior of each family member Behaviors become habitual and repeat over time Plan interventions that carefully target and provide practical ways to change those patterns of interaction

13. Diagnosing Family System Problems BSFT diagnoses by identifying the current family process – focusing on the nature and characteristics of the interactions that occur in the family and either help or hinder the family’s attempts to get rid of the adolescent’s problem behaviors.

14. Elements of the Family ‘s interactions: Organization Resonance Developmental States Life Context Identified patient Conflict resolution

15. Goals: To eliminate or reduce the adolescent’s use of drugs and associated problem behaviors, known as "symptom focus"

16. Quote “ In this therapy, the therapist takes responsibility for the outcome of the therapy. This has nothing to do with good or bad, guilt or innocence, right or wrong. It is the simple acknowledgement that you make a difference.” – Eileen Bobrow, MA, MFT, Senior Research Fellow at MRI

17. References: Who is Milton Erickson. Downloaded on 11/07/09 http://nlpexplorer.wordpress.com/who-is-milton-erickson/ Jay Haley: The Strategic Therapist. Downloaded on 11/7/09 http://www.jay-haleytherapy.com/html/strategic_therapy.html National Institute of Health NIDA National Institute on Drug Abuse. Brief Strategic Family Therapy for Adolescent Drug Abuse. Downloaded on 11/7/09 http://www.nida.nih.gov/TXManuals/bsft/bsftindex.html