Family Therapy Glossary - Quiz #5

Front 1

negentropy

Back 1

A concept from systems theory which describes the emergence of a system's organizational patterns which leads to knowledge about the system.

Front 2

network therapy

Back 2

a clinical method, developed by Ross Speck and Carolyn Attneave, in which resources throughout and external to the family system are recruited and involved in the family therapy process to assist the family in working on the problem.

Front 3

object relations

Back 3

an early psychodynamic theory which described the internalized images of one's self and others that are based on early parent-child interactions.

Front 4

open systems

Back 4

a term from general systems theory that refers to systems which are continuously open to the exchange of information from it's environment.

Front 5

ordinal position

Back 5

a concept that defines the relative birth order position of each family member within one's sibling sub-system.

Front 6

organization

Back 6

the relationship among the components of a system which are both necessary and sufficient for defining the nature and identity of the system.

Front 7

overfunctioning/underfunctioning positions

Back 7

these concepts from family of origin therapy describe reciprocal roles within a family system.

Front 8

paradox

Back 8

a clinical intervention where the family therapist offers a message to the family which is both internally inconsistent and contraditory.

Front 9

parentification

Back 9

a family system dynamic where a child is assigned a caretaking role for one or both parents, and often for the siblings, too.

Front 10

perturbation

Back 10

a clinical intervention in which the family therapist acts upon the system to produce a structural change or accommodation.

Front 11

positive connotation

Back 11

a clinical intervention to reframe family behaviors so that they maintain a balance or cohesion within the system

Front 12

postmodern thinking

Back 12

a theoretical movement that emerged in the family therapy field in the 1970's and 1980's.

Front 13

pragmatics

Back 13

a complement to aesthetics, pragmatics refers to a reductionistic stance in which the focus in family therapy is on resolving the presenting problem while generally ignoring the larger gestalt in which the prsenting problem exists.

Front 14

prescribing the symptom

Back 14

a clinical intervention that takes the form of paradox and double bind.

Front 15

projective identification

Back 15

a concept from psychodynamic theory which defines a defensive mechanism in individuals.

Front 16

pseudo-hostility

Back 16

a family dynamic used as a defense for the system where hostiltity and conflict camouflage underlying dysfunctional elements.

Front 17

pseudo-mutuality

Back 17

an early clinical concept that described a family's presentation to the family therapst as an outward picture of intimacy and harmony which served to camouflage underlying conflicts and dysfunctions.

Front 18

power

Back 18

a concept that defines a family member's ablity to influence or control circumstances and events.

Front 19

process

Back 19

a concept from family systems theory which describes the repetitions, redundancies, and predictabilities of a family system that appear clinically in a sequence of actions and interactions among family members.

Front 20

punctuation

Back 20

the family systems dynamic by which members perceive and mark distinctions in their interactions with one another.

Front 21

quid pro quo

Back 21

a contract between two individuals in which each gives to the other a certian favor or recognition and receives in turn a similar favor of relatively equal value.

Front 22

reciprocity

Back 22

a concept from family systems theory that describes interactions between family members where the behavior of one person "dovetails" or "fits" together with that of another in a complementary fashion.

Front 23

reciprocal structural coupling

Back 23

a concept from systems theory which describes the organizational closure that is attained by a system when circularity is achieved.

Front 24

reflecting team

Back 24

a clinical intervention in family therapy that is employed both as a training method and a consultation method.

Front 25

reframing

Back 25

a clinical intervention which challenges a family's perception of a symptom or conflict both by relabeling it and altering the context in which it is perceived.

Front 26

relabeling

Back 26

a clinical intervention where symptoms are restated or redefined in interpersonal terms instead of with the focus of a symptom on an individual member.

Front 27

restructuring

Back 27

a clinical intervention from Structural Family Therapy which describes interventions that are directed toward challenging and altering the family system's structure.

Front 28

roles

Back 28

a concept from family therapy that describes images and/or positions with characteristic behaviors that are assigned to specific members to perform certain functions within a family system.

Front 29

rubber fence

Back 29

a concept used as a metaphor to describe an unstable but continuous family boundary which many stretch to include supportive and positive influences and then may contract to exclude that which is perceived by the family as threatening.

Front 30

runaway

Back 30

a concept from systems theory describing a system which responds to positive feedback in such a way that dysfunctions and errors are reinforced and escalated, causing the system to be moved further "off-track."

Front 31

scapegoating

Back 31

a family system dynamic that describes the process by which a family designates a member to carry and act out the stress and dysfunction for other members or subsystems of the family.

Front 32

sculpting

Back 32

a clinical intervention, adapted by Peggy Papp from psychodrama, in which a family member is asked to depict a view of the emotional closeness or distance among the members of a family system.