Introduction Two prominent figures in the experiential model’s conception were Carla Whitaker and Virginia Satir. Whitaker and Satir’s unorthodox ways of helping families gained them attention and validity within the marriage and family therapy practice. Shying away from systemic and linear thought Whitaker and Satir aimed to liberate family members by allowing them to be authentic through genuine emotional expressiveness (Nichols, 2016). The experiential model focuses not on the systemic structure of the family but rather the opportunities for emotional expression and experience. For Satir and Whitaker, the family’s capacity to allow individual members the freedom to be themselves was paramount the health of the family. The goal of the therapeutic
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Families find themselves locked into roles and expressions that seem impossible to deviate from, creating conflict and sadness. Experiential therapy highlights our need to feel and be felt (Nichols, 2016). A hallmark of experiential therapy is the therapist’s active participation in the families healing process. In experiential therapy, it is not so much what the therapist does but rather who the therapist is (Nichols, 2016). An example of the experiential mode at work Satir’s hallmark use of touch. Satir focused on fostering healing within families by reeducating individuals on how to provide support to one another. In a case example of Satir demonstrates the power of tenderness. Satir worked with a father, two boys and the father’s new wife. The boys had experienced unspeakable trauma and violence from their mother and had started erupting in anger and violence towards other children. The father and his new wife were unsure of how to support the boys, often responding with roughness and frustration. Satir took notice of the need for the family to be reeducated in the power of touch. She taught the father and his wife to respond to the boys’ outbursts with holding them …show more content…
Humans are emotional creatures and just as Bowlby’s research on attachment indicates, our earliest experiences with caregivers can impact our current and future relationships. Experiential therapy helps to mitigate the pain and re-introduce us to the emotional experiences we all crave including empathy, understanding and compassion. For this reason, there are not many cultural limitations to experiential family therapy. Although, as stated previously, the nature of experiential therapy creates challenges with creating experiments and efficacy tests. For this reason, I would consider its broad, sweeping scope as a limitation to fully understanding and realizing its effectiveness with diverse populations, specifically with collectivist leaning
Families find themselves locked into roles and expressions that seem impossible to deviate from, creating conflict and sadness. Experiential therapy highlights our need to feel and be felt (Nichols, 2016). A hallmark of experiential therapy is the therapist’s active participation in the families healing process. In experiential therapy, it is not so much what the therapist does but rather who the therapist is (Nichols, 2016). An example of the experiential mode at work Satir’s hallmark use of touch. Satir focused on fostering healing within families by reeducating individuals on how to provide support to one another. In a case example of Satir demonstrates the power of tenderness. Satir worked with a father, two boys and the father’s new wife. The boys had experienced unspeakable trauma and violence from their mother and had started erupting in anger and violence towards other children. The father and his new wife were unsure of how to support the boys, often responding with roughness and frustration. Satir took notice of the need for the family to be reeducated in the power of touch. She taught the father and his wife to respond to the boys’ outbursts with holding them …show more content…
Humans are emotional creatures and just as Bowlby’s research on attachment indicates, our earliest experiences with caregivers can impact our current and future relationships. Experiential therapy helps to mitigate the pain and re-introduce us to the emotional experiences we all crave including empathy, understanding and compassion. For this reason, there are not many cultural limitations to experiential family therapy. Although, as stated previously, the nature of experiential therapy creates challenges with creating experiments and efficacy tests. For this reason, I would consider its broad, sweeping scope as a limitation to fully understanding and realizing its effectiveness with diverse populations, specifically with collectivist leaning