Systemic Theories
Contrastingly, I remain skeptical of how a therapist can offer couples counseling services without a strong clinical background. Mental health issues, even those that don’t meet the minimum criteria for a diagnosis are understood by most practitioners as ubiquitous in our society. If one or both members of a couple has untreated depression, bipolar, substance use issue, or even a mild manifestation of a personality disorder, it would seem prudent that these issues be addressed as part of an overall holistic, in other words, “systemic” approach.
Indeed, in exploring and learning about systemic marriage and family theories, I have surprisingly found them equally limiting as the individual psychology theories were. In the clinical psychology program, the various therapeutic modalities we were exposed to conceptualized nearly all mental health problems as resulting from …show more content…
Forisha, the ex-chair of the DMFT program, explained how the founders of marriage and family therapy were attempting to address Schizophrenia. Dr. Jay Haley and others hypothesized that Schizophrenia was caused by dysfunctional communication in the client’s family of origin. Dr. Forisha explained that many early marriage and family therapists supported this hypothesis. However, as time moved forward, evidence for Schizophrenia’s biological and genetic origins became undeniable. Dr. Forisha lamented that these early marriage and family therapists laid the cause of Schizophrenia at the feet of the families that came to them for help, effectively victimizing them by blaming the parents for raising Schizophrenic children. Other mental health issues have been demonstrated to likely also have biological factors involved in their development, manifestation, and presentation. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual, 5th Edition (2013) states, under Risk and Prognostic Factors throughout the
Contrastingly, I remain skeptical of how a therapist can offer couples counseling services without a strong clinical background. Mental health issues, even those that don’t meet the minimum criteria for a diagnosis are understood by most practitioners as ubiquitous in our society. If one or both members of a couple has untreated depression, bipolar, substance use issue, or even a mild manifestation of a personality disorder, it would seem prudent that these issues be addressed as part of an overall holistic, in other words, “systemic” approach.
Indeed, in exploring and learning about systemic marriage and family theories, I have surprisingly found them equally limiting as the individual psychology theories were. In the clinical psychology program, the various therapeutic modalities we were exposed to conceptualized nearly all mental health problems as resulting from …show more content…
Forisha, the ex-chair of the DMFT program, explained how the founders of marriage and family therapy were attempting to address Schizophrenia. Dr. Jay Haley and others hypothesized that Schizophrenia was caused by dysfunctional communication in the client’s family of origin. Dr. Forisha explained that many early marriage and family therapists supported this hypothesis. However, as time moved forward, evidence for Schizophrenia’s biological and genetic origins became undeniable. Dr. Forisha lamented that these early marriage and family therapists laid the cause of Schizophrenia at the feet of the families that came to them for help, effectively victimizing them by blaming the parents for raising Schizophrenic children. Other mental health issues have been demonstrated to likely also have biological factors involved in their development, manifestation, and presentation. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual, 5th Edition (2013) states, under Risk and Prognostic Factors throughout the