Structural Therapy Case Study

Structural therapy may be helpful to Philip if he willingly comes to therapy, commits and actively work with changing the family dysfunction. Assuming Philip is going to come and participate in therapy, I would want him to come in at least once a week initially. I would hesitate to do more than once a week because that would interfere with his life and maybe deter him from continuing to come. I would first want to work with him on his anger toward his father. Potentially having both of them in session and working things out between them or at least decrease hostility between the two of them.
In individual sessions with Philip I would want to educate him on what a healthy family looks like, family roles, and boundaries. Getting Philip to change something that would cause some unbalance to the family system so the rest of the family can see the dysfunction that is going on is a goal of structural therapy. Instead of helping the family so much with money and support, having Philip focus on his life and what he is doing with his future could be a good first step. Some other goals for Philip could be working on finishing school, getting a job, potentially reducing alcohol and drug consumption. Another intervention in structural therapy that would help Philip would be to challenge unproductive thoughts and feelings, which he brings up in …show more content…
The family is “fucked up” as Philip puts it, however dysfunctional the family is it functions. Staying together is a value that is important for Philip and his siblings. That is a big family to manage for a grown up, let alone his 22 year old sister and himself. His father getting sober and assuming a parental role, helping the family would be ideal. How realistic that would be is questionable. Getting some additional family supports and increasing the family’s socioeconomic situation would be a top priority for this