Experiential Mft

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Experiential MFT

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Two people really stand out in experiential marriage and family work: Carl Whitaker and Walter Kempler.
These therapies have at their roots experiential/existential/gestalt individual psychology and reached their peak of popularity in the 1960’s. They are still around, but you don’t see them much at all on the East Coast.

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Hallmarks of these therapies are:

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Individuality, personal freedom, and self-fulfillment
Healthfulness involves the facilitation of normal change processes with an emphasis on spontaneity and creativity
Dysfunction is generally seen as the result of denying impulses and suppressing feelings
The primary goal of therapy is growth, particularly in regard to sensitivity and the sharing of feelings
Techniques are rather free-form and include such strategies as psychodrama, sculpting, and role-playing, although experiential work can encompass just about anything.

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Whitaker’s Work

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For Whitaker, healthy families are:
self-actualizing families (families that grow despite pitfalls and problems)
Inclusionary
Understand the dynamic of family structure and interaction in relation to time and location
Maintain generational separation that is firm yet flexible
Open to influence from outside systems

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By contrast, dysfunctional families are:

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Systems in which impulses are denied and feelings are repressed
Overly self-protective and avoid risk taking
Systems in which conflict and conflict resolution over troubling events are avoided
As such, dysfunctional families do not cope well with new, novel stimuli, and do not promote the overall growth of the family members or the family system.

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Whitaker’s Therapy

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The basic goal is balance and facilitate both individual autonomy and a sense of togetherness. This goal is achieved by:
Promoting creativity and “craziness”
Joining with families to become a “powerful force for change”
This is done in by use of seven core techniques:

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Whitaker’s Therapy seven core techniques:

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1-Redefining symptoms as efforts for growth
2-Modeling fantasy
3-Separating interpersonal stress and intrapersonal stress
4-Adding practical bits of information
5-Augmenting the despair of a family member
6-Affective confrontation
7-Treating children like children

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Walter Kempler

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* More of a gestalt orientation, this model focuses on attention on the immediate – what people say, how they say it, what happens when it is said, how it corresponds with what they are doing, and what they are attempting to achieve.
* Treatment consists of bringing discordant elements into mutual self-disclosing confrontation
* Therapy focuses on expanding awareness, accepting personal responsibility, and unifying the individual

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Walter Kempler's Therapy Techniques

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* In this method, the MFT acts as a catalyst who encourages individuals to confront each other in a more open and direct manner. They also offer advice and suggestions. If the advice isn’t followed, the MFT presses the issue.
* This is what the book describes as active meddling.