Topic 6

Experiential Family
Therapy
Virginia Satir and Carl Whitaker are among the prominent contributors to this
therapy.

The emphasis of this therapy is on here and now experience, including the
concepts such as process, encounter, growth, spontaneity and action.
The ongoing experience of the family is taken into consideration when
measuring the psychological aspects of the family and to determine whether
therapy is needed.
6.1 Premises of The Therapy

❑ Family is not aware of their emotions and even if there is awareness, the
individuals suppress the emotions.

❑ When the emotion is suppressed, a climate of emotional deadness will be

experienced that results in the expression of symptoms among family members.

❑ Family members begin to avoid each other and dysfunctionality perpetuates.

❑ In this situation, the family will be encouraged to express their feelings with the
family members. As a whole, this therapy promotes self-awareness.
 6.2

Treatment Techniques of
Experiential Family Therapy
Choose techniques that are suitable to their personality and spontaneity.
There are seven interventions that can aid the therapeutic process (Keith & Whitaker
(1982).
 a) Redefining Symptoms as Efforts of Growth

Therapists help the family to use previous unproductive behaviours as

something that are helpful to develop further.

b) Modelling Fantasy Alternatives to Real-life

Stress
❑ Moving beyond expected and conventional ways will sometimes be
used to gain changes.
❑ There will be an assessment to measure whether the family’s idea will
work or not.
 c) Separating Interpersonal Stress and Intrapersonal Stress

❑ Interpersonal stress occurs between two or more family members.

❑ Intrapersonal develops within oneself.
❑ It is important to differentiate between the two as there are different ways
to resolve these stresses.

d) Adding Practical Bits of Interventions

❑ Practical elements or concrete information is sometimes needed to make changes.

❑ For example, teenagers who live in a low income family. It is beneficial to inform
them regarding to the hardship that their parents experienced in life.
❑ Such information can help the teenagers to accept their life condition and be more
patient.
 e) Augmenting the Despair of a Family Member

❑ This means to enlarge the feeling of a family member to all other members
❑ Benefits: everyone in the family will be able to understand the feeling better.
❑ This can avoid from suppression or denial of any emotions.

f) Affective Confrontation

❑ Experiential therapy emphasises the primary emotion.

❑ Therefore, while confronting, the therapist will instruct the family members to
examine their feelings before exploring their behaviours.
 g) Treating Children Like Children and Not Like Peers

❑ Treat children in an age-appropriate manner.

❑ Even though children are included in the therapeutic process, they are
given different kinds of treatment than the adults.
 Additional Techniques of
Experiential Family Therapy
Techniques that are widely
used in experiential family therapy.
 a) Modelling of Effective Communication Using “I” Messages

❑ A dysfunctional family communicates by the use of ‘we’ instead of ‘I’.

❑ For example, a father might say to his son who does not clean his room by saying:
‘Someone is going to punish you if you do not clean’.
❑ This therapy suggest the father to use the ‘I’ statement to express his own feelings. -
‘I will punish you if you do not clean the room’.
❑ This type of communication promotes levelling or congruent in communicating.

b) Blamer

❑ A blamer blames others and avoids taking responsibility for what happens.
❑ This person communicates by perceiving themselves as always in the right and blames
others. This person might say “Look what you have done”.
 c) Placater

❑ Placater avoids conflict at the cost of their own integrity.

❑ This is done out of timidity and to please others.
❑ For example, an individual may say “It should be fine” even though he or she
disagrees with the idea.

d) Distractor

❑ A distractor is a person who does things that are not relevant.

❑ This person does not have any connectedness with anything that is happening.
❑ For example, when a father speaks about his son’s responsibility, the son looks away
and talk about something else that is not relevant at all.
 e) Computer (or Rational Analyser)

❑ Computer or rational is a person who analyser always communicates by

using cognitive or intellectual ability.
❑ This person avoids emotional sentiments.
❑ Satir (1988) used a communication stance technique to help families to
be more open.
❑ For example, show anger directly to a specified person or learn to express
openly the care and concern towards the person.
❑ As a result, feelings may surface.
 ❑ In sculpting, the family is shaped according to their real
f) Sculpting life experiences.
❑ Past events and patterns are perceptually set up.
❑ Earlier misconceptions will be clarified gain a clearer
view of family relationships.

Four steps in sculpting

 g) Choreography

❑ Family members are requested to act a pattern or sequence in their

relationship with one another.
❑ Similar to a “silent movie”.
❑ A family may be requested to act the role that they play in their family.
❑ Example: A father cares about his daughter more than his son, hence the
father asks his daughter about her studies but never ask a word to his son.
❑ This scenario is acted in the session three or four times.
❑ Benefits: Would help the family to get the feeling of this situation from the
perspectives of other family members.
❑ A discussion will be done on what has happened and what would the family
prefer to happen.
 h) Play Therapy

❑ Play therapy is used as a general word for various therapeutic interventions that
utilise play media to communicate and work with children (Johnson et al., 1999).
❑ The children will explore feelings and relationships with the therapist and resolute
problems that the child experiences.

i) Filial Therapy

❑ In filial therapy, the focus is on the parent-child relationship.

❑ This assists to address the child’s problem through the parents; perspective.
❑ This therapy provides ideas to parents on how to handle children’s emotional
expression and problems with their children.
 j) Humour
❑ Using humour successfully in sessions may reduce tensed feelings.
❑ Humour is specifically used to point out a family’s absurd view point.
❑ Example: Mother says, “I will break your leg if you do not follow the rules”.
❑ The therapist may say to the mother, “Come, let us see how you will break your son’s leg”.
❑ Benefits: This helps to reorganise the distorted thought by the mother towards her son
and create a more healthy relationship between the family members.

k) Touch

❑ Therapists use touch such as patting on the shoulder, shake hands or putting arms
around another while communicating with family members in the therapy.
❑ It should be used carefully and appropriately in order to avoid any violations on the
personal boundaries of the client.
 l) Props

❑ Props used in family therapy such as ropes and blindfolds.

❑ They are metaphorical in nature.
❑ For example, a rope may represent the connectedness among family
members.
❑ In Satir’s therapy, she ties rope around the waist of every family member and
ask them to move, thus, all the family members can feel that they are tied to
one another.
❑ They can feel how a movement of one family member influences the
movement of another.
❑ Then, the therapist will ask the family members to relate that with real life
experiences in their relationship.
m) Family Reconstruction

❑ Family reconstruction is a therapeutic technique which helps families to

discover dysfunctional patterns that stem from their family of origin.

❑ It focuses on three factors, such as:

(i) Reveal to the family members the sources of their old learning;
(ii) Help them have a more realistic idea on who their parents are as people
(iii) Find out ways for each family member to discover their own personhood.
❑ The family reconstruction started with a guide from the therapist to help the
‘star’ or ‘explorer’ (central characters of a family) to chart events of the family in
chronological order.

Tools included in the family reconstruction technique are:

(i) Family Map : illustrates about three generations in a star’s family. It tells about
the personality of the family member.

(ii) Family Life Fact Chronology : Includes demographic details of a family and
extended family members include illnesses, moving from one place to another,
pregnancy and alcoholic problems.

(iii) Wheel or Circle of Influence : Represents those who are significant to the star
or the explorer. The star will be shown in the middle of those who have caused a
positive or negative effect on him or her. The thickness of line drawn indicates
the closeness of the relationship. The thicker it is, the closer the relationship.
❑ The final element of the family
reconstruction is for the star to
create life to the events
discovered by him or her.

This will be done in a group of 10

people aided by a guide (can be
the therapist) to come up with
family scenarios.

Reason : To help the star or the

explorer to develop new
perception on family
characteristics or style.
n) Family Drawings

❑ Joint family scribble: Every family member requested to briefly scribble. Once all
the scribble by family members are joined, the family will get a picture on what
needs to be worked on both individually and together.

❑ Conjoint family drawing: Family members share ideas on what they perceive as
a member in the family. For example, in a drawing, a daughter who is
emotionally aloof from others may draw a picture that reflects her distant from
other family members.

❑ Symbolic drawing of family life space: The therapist will draw a big circle and
request the family members to draw everything that represents the family in the
circle and to draw people or institutions that are not related to the family. Once
this drawing is done, the family members are requested to symbolically arrange
themselves on how they relate themselves within a large circle of drawing.
 o) Puppet Interviews

❑ Family problems can be displayed by playing a puppet show.

❑ Family members can gain insight indirectly.
❑ This technique is more useful for young children, shy children and mute
children who find difficult or cannot relate much about family dynamics
through other ways.
❑ There are limitations of employing this technique as adults may prefer talking
therapy and certain children may create stories that are little or not related
with real life situation.
6.3 Role of Therapist

Therapist plays a role as a facilitator and resource person. Participate actively

in sessions as a whole person, not as teacher or director.

Therapist helps every person to grow personally and find a meaningful role in
the family, thus enable them to understand themselves better.

Generally the therapist assists families in discovering individuality and their

roles in the family.
 6.4

Process and Outcome

If this therapy is effectively conducted, it will enhance the awareness of the
client’s feelings and express the feelings openly. This helps to gain better
intimacy and healthy function of the family (Casado, Young & Rasmus, 2002).
No matter which technique is employed, the experiential therapy’s goal is
growth, especially on the issue of sensitivity and sharing of feelings.
Whitaker suggested a three-stage model of therapeutic family therapy
On the other hand, Satir has three stages of intervention
 Creativity and
spontaneity in
families

6.5
Changing roles
and enhance the
Growth understanding of
one’s self and
Unique Aspects
others

Of Experiential
Family Therapy Breakdown of
defences within and Treat all family
among family
members through
members
exercises that are equally
structured

Better awareness
of everyone’s
feelings in a family