Family Therapy Glossary - Quiz #1

Front 1

Accommodation

Back 1

A process from Structural Family Therapy by which a family therapist adjusts and modifies one's role during a clinical session to feedback received from the family system in order to achieve joining.

Front 2

Alliance

Back 2

A concept from family systems theory that identifies the affiliations between two or more family members, based on common interests or shared beliefs, but without the intent to keep others out

Front 3

Aesthetics

Back 3

As the complement of pragmatics, this term refers to a sensitivity toward holism, complexity, and the larger patterns which connect family members.

Front 4

Alternative Story

Back 4

A concept from Narrative Family Therapy which defines the meaning ascribed to a "lived experience" by a family member that contradicts or falls outside of a member's or family's dominant narritave.

Front 5

Analogic

Back 5

A from of communication, defined in systems theory, which consists of quantities, differences and analogies.

Front 6

Battle for Initiative

Back 6

A clinical goal, developed in Symbolic-experiential Family Therapy, to get the family to take responsiblity for what happens in the therapy process.

Front 7

Battle for Structure

Back 7

A clinical goal, developed in Symobilic-experiential Family therapy, to extablish the necessary ground rules or structure for therapy with a family.

Front 8

Behavioral Family Therapy

Back 8

A clinical model which utilized learning theory and is often integrated with resources from cognitive therapy.

Front 9

Borderline Process

Back 9

A clinical process which describes a cluster of symptoms associated with the Borderline Personality Disorder, but which occur, not just in a diagnosed individual, but are present and identifiable throughout several generations of a family system.

Front 10

Boundaries

Back 10

A concept developed in Structural Family Therapy, which identifies abstract dividers that are present between family subsystems.

Front 11

Brief Family Therapy

Back 11

A clinical model directed toward brief problem resolution with the goal of helping family members change their responses to specific problems.

Front 12

Centripetal Family Pattern

Back 12

This clinical pattern which describes a process of "binding" family members tightly and rigidly within an isolating family system.

Front 13

Centrifugal Family Pattern

Back 13

This clinical pattern which describes a process of "expelling" family members early and forcefully from the family system, particularly at the stage of adolescent separation.

Front 14

Circular Causality

Back 14

A concept from systems theory which refers to the non-linear, recursive nature of the interaction in family systems. A influences B influences C influences A.

Front 15

Circular Questioning

Back 15

A clinical technique, developed by the Milan group of family therapists, which describes a goal of eliciting differences in perceptions about events, problems, and/or relationships from each family member.

Front 16

Closed System

Back 16

A concept which describes family systems which are self-contained and often isolated by ther limited recognition and use of feedback.

Front 17

Coach

Back 17

A role of a family therapist, developed initailly by Murray Bowen, where one functions both as a role model for individual family members in their differentiation process and as a facilitator of family of origin exploration.

Front 18

Coalition

Back 18

A family dynamic which occurs when two members join together, often covertly, against a third member; sometimes referred to as a relational triangle.

Front 19

Cognitive Family Therapy

Back 19

A clinical model, developed initially by Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, and often integrated with Behavioral Family Therapy, which is based on the assumption that behavior and affect follow from thinking.

Front 20

Coherence

Back 20

A process in family systems whereby the various components of a family fit together.

Front 21

Cohesion

Back 21

A concept from family systems theory that defines the emotional bonding among family members.

Front 22

Collaboration

Back 22

A process central to the practice of Medical Family Therapy in which health care providers, including family therapists, physicians, nurse practitiioners, and psychiatrists, work together in the care of patients.

Front 23

Collaborative Language Systems

Back 23

A clinical concept, developed in relation to postmodern thought and social constructionism, which emphasizes a nonhierarchical partnership between the family therapist and the family system.

Front 24

Collaborative Therapy

Back 24

A forerunner to the conjoint method in which spearate therapists treated different family members (usually spouses) individually.

Front 25

Collusion

Back 25

A process in family systems where members attribute to one another shared feelings which serve to suppport certain beliefs or protective functions of the system.

Front 26

Communication

Back 26

A central concept in family systems theory whereby members share meaning with each other, both verbally and non-verbally.