Spring Semester!

Hello fam,
Does anyone know when the last day is to sign up for the spring semester?
Merry Christmas!!
1 John 4

My MFT Family....

I just felt that I needed to share a few things that I appreciate about you all....so here goes:

These are things I LOVE about you guys:

Jason = your dry humor and sarcasm!
Joshua = your style and the fact that you speak French--so JEALOUS!!
Alex = your calm and sensitive nature!
John = your experience and wisdom!
Katie = your meekness, your humbleness!
Josh = you are tough yet gentle!
Jaimie = you always show concern for the lives of others--you have awesome doodling skills!!
Brittney = you are such a tough girl, but so girlie at the same time!
Ryan = you are not afraid to admit your sensitivity--and you are a runner!
Christina = you always have the right words, and you never say too much--so much WISDOM!
Quita = your taste in food :) --you seem to embrace the diversity of others!
Roe = you always have a story--your stories are ALWAYS HILARIOUS!
Shelley = you amaze me! You are brilliant!
Will = your love for your wife--so evident that you think she is AMAZING!
Lanie = your calm spirit!
Laurel = our mutual love for organization and over-achieving! You are my doppleganger!
Branden = your laid-back attitude!
Betsy = your deep-thinking and intellectual ways!
Leah = you always say EXACTLY what you feel like saying--LOVE THAT!
Michael = your ability to entertain!
Michelle = your GENTLE, GENTLE spirit--and the fact that when I see you I want to talk in a REALLY high voice!
Pablo = your Spanish--love how you always translate for us!

I love you guys---hope I didn't miss anyone!

Love---Stephanie

Carols and Coffee

Everyone is invite to come to the 1st Annual Carols and Coffee TONIGHT (TUESDAY)!!! It is at 6:30 in the Chapel! It would be great to see all of your lovely faces again! Families are welcome! (coffee and snacks provided)
Love to all!
Britt

Cultural Genogram Article - Hardy

Cultural Genogram Article - Hardy

• Social constructivism – is the biases we have because of our own culture
• Cultural Genograms for therapists promote cultural awareness and help to develop cultural sensitivity
• Imperative for family therapy training programs to devote greater attention to preparing culturally competent therapists.
• Awareness - cognitive function, intellectual processing
• Sensitivity – individual, response emotionally to stimuli with delicacy and respectfulness.
• These functions are intertwined.
• Brings joining between client in therapist and insight into clients psyche.
• Help the trainees to understand their own background
• Accomplishes:

o   Illustrate and clarify the cultural influence on the family system

o   Assist trainees in identifying the groups which contribute to the formation of their cultural identity

o   Encourage candid discussions that reveal and challenge cultural based assumptions and stereotypes

o   Assisting trainees in understanding their culturally based emotional triggers

o   Assisting trainees exploring how their unique cultural identities impact their style and effectiveness

o   Can heighten cultural biases – objectivity is limited by our

·         Steps to the genogram –

o   Organize

o   Define one’s cultural of origin

o   Organize principles and pride/shame issues

§  Fundamental values

o   Establish a frame

o   Putting it together

o   Create cultural framework charts

Family Process: Author Lynn Hoffman

Theme: moving away from a cybernetic, mechanical, and behevaioristic approach to Family Therapy, towards more "postmodern", objective, and fluid approach to family therapy.

Key Terms:

Cybernetic: activity of feedback cycles, not only inmmachine but in humans.
* homeostatic cycles that stabilize a family
* a therapist seeks in break disruptive, un-profitable homeostatic cycles.
Social Constructionist Theory: holds that our beliefs about the world are social inventions.
* as we move through the world, we build up our ideas about it in conversation w/ others.
* see the development of knowledge as a social phenomenon.
Idealism: view that knowledge derives from internal constructs
* S.C theory moves away from this.
Positivism: knowledge is a representation of facts and events in a "real" world.
* S.C theory moves away from this.
Second-Order lens:looking from outside the system
* taking a position that is a step removed from the operation itself so that you can
perceive the operation reflexively.
* allows you to see that a particular interpretation is only one among many possible ones
* a second order view would mean that a therapist include themselves as part of what must
change; they can not NOT influence the system.
Counter-intuitive principle: commonsense solutions to complex problems often have the opposite
effect to what was intended.
* because there exists secondary the tertiary feedback looks that are not obvious.
Lens of Gender: most psychological models and theories are based of a male dominated research
and worldview.
* emphasis on independence, autonomy, and control is not as compatible to woman to the
degree it is with men.
* being gender sensitive as well as having gender worldview awareness is a better model.

Hoffman:

1) believed a incorporation of...
* social constructionist theory
* second order lens
* gender lens
...is more effective that taking a strict, cybernetic model.

ENJOY: KISS KISS JASON

Notes from "Family-of-Origin Frames in Couples Therapy" Article

Family of Origin Frames in Couple Therapy

Uses 6 frames (reaction to family of origin) to help differentiate Marital Styles

• Coping – How you deal with anxiety, pressure
• Modeling – Models in your childhood (father, mother, other) whom you copy
• Role – Role you played in family of origin (scapegoat, helper, clown, etc.)
• Definition – Beliefs that define what you believe to be reality; myths
• Reversal – Things that you reject “I won’t EVER do that in my family!”
• Loyalty – Coalitions, triangles, and issues of loyalty or split-loyalty (divorce/remarriage, etc.)

Three marriage styles emerge:

• Pursuer/Distancer – Seeking intimacy vs. wanting space
• Overfunctioner/Underfunctioner – Taking responsibility, acting vs. not taking responsibility and passivity
• Blamer/Placaters  - Critical and demanding vs. Trying to please

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is for everyone who is going to be working later than their internal clock will allow them

WAKE UP!!!!!

Psychopathology Study Guide

Everyone check your emails- especially the one from Barry. Christina Gangan made a sign up sheet so that we can split up the SG! YAY!
Love

How to Carkhuff by Conan

I made this. thought it would be fun to give some comic relief! Not an actual picture of my family. we didn't smile. Just kidding.

Update on our Beloved Leah!!!

Hi all-

Just wanted to update all- Leah is feeling a bit better this morning. Keep praying for her as this can be quite frustrating physically as well as emotionally (especially at this time in the semester). You all are amazing! Praying for each of you :).

~ Betsy

Naturalism- Sire chapter

Just in case someone didn't get my email, here is a brief summary of the Sire book chapter on Naturalism


Sire- Chapter 4 Naturalism

- Naturalism is the middle ground between Deism and Theism, and is widely accepted today. God loses his very existence. Reason is the whole criterion for truth and not God. Important figures were Renee Descartes, John Locke, Julien offray de la mettrie.
“Prime reality is matter. Matter exists eternally and is all there is. God does not exist.”
“The cosmos exists as a uniformity of causes and effect in a closed system.”
“Human beings are complex machines; personality is an interrelation of chemical and physical properties we do not yet fully understand”- we are only part of the matter and are not above or below anything else in the world.
“Death is the extinction of personality and individuality”- people simply disappear when they die.
“Through our innate and autonomous human reason, including the methods of science, we can know the universe. The cosmos, including this world, is understood to be in its normal state”
“Ethics is related only to human beings”- We create ethics because we create and develop our futures. People have a sense of right and wrong.
History is a linear stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an overarching purpose”- The world is self-activating and sustaining.
Naturalism itself implies no particular core commitment on the part of any given naturalist. Rather core commitments are adopted unwittingly or chosen by individuals.
most significant form of naturalism in history was Marxism

Thanks!
Michelle

Psychopathology

Family,
Does anyone know when we will be receiving the case studies from Dr. Damon??

Heads up.

GENOGRAM!

HEY GUYS!

Does anyone have a genogram sample from the buddy files? I would love to get an idea on organization! thanks

mpreston87@gmail.com

Fishbowl help!

I know I have sent an email already, but I was afraid I missed someone...and I am a bit OCD....

Is there any kind soul that would be willing to take my fishbowl hour for me this coming Monday (11/22/10) @ 12p.m.?  I am begging.......I will bake for you upon my return :)

Love--stephanie hathorn

FINAL EXAM HELP PART 2

FAMILY SYSTEMS EXAM HELP

* Bolded terms need clarification from Dr. Hurley
accommodation	Elements of a system automatically adjust to coordinate their functioning:  people may have to work at it.
alliance	cooperative arrangements between two parties, not formed at the expense of a third. (positive, different than coalition)
black box metaphor	The idea that because the mind is so complex, it’s better to study people’s input & output (behavior, communication) than to speculate about what goes on in their  minds.
blended families	Separate families united by marriage; stepfamilies
boundaries	Emotional & physical barriers that protect & enhance the integrity of individuals, subsystems, & families
circular causality	The idea that actions are related through a series of recursive loops or repeating cycles
circular questioning	A method of interviewing that asks questions that highlight differences among family members.
coalition	An alliance between two persons or social units against a third
communications theory	The study of relationships in terms of the exchange of messages (verbal and nonverbal).
complementarily	the reciprocity that is the defining feature of any relationship
complementary relationships	Relationship based on differences that fit together, where qualities of one make up for lacks in the other; one is a one-up while the other is one-down
concurrent therapy	treatment of two or more person seen separately by different therapists
conjoint therapy	two or more people are seen together by the same therapist.
constructivism	Reality is subjectively constructed by people.  Knowledge is a product of the way our imaginations are organized - Kant.  Therapists can be guilty of this, defining their own reality of the clients situation.
cross-generational coalition	An inappropriate alliance between a parent and child, who side together against a third member of the family.
culture	Common patterns of bx & experience derived from settings in which people live
cybernetics	The study of feedback mechanisms in self-regulating systems.  (e.g. levels and orders of change, feedback loops)  Focuses on: Family rules, negative / positive feedback, sequences of family interactions.
differentiation of self	The psychological separation of intellect & emotions,, & independence of self from others; opposite of fusion.  (the is a healthy trait)
directives	A therapeutic technique used by Jay Haley to become in charge of the family's treatment & get them to do something about the presenting problems
disengagement	Psychological isolation that results from overly rigid boundaries around individuals & subsystems in a family
double bind	Created when a person receives contradictory messages on different levels of abstraction in an important relationship & cannot leave or comment
emotional reactivity	Tendency to react in a knee-jerk reaction, not calmly and rationally.  Feelings overwhelm thinking and drowned out individuality.
empathy
enactment	An interaction stimulated in structural family therapy in order to observe and then change transactions that make up family structure.
enmeshed	Loss of autonomy due to a blurring of psychological boundaries
equifinality	The final results are the same regardless of which part of the system begins to change first.  (e.g. it doesn't matter if the husband, wife, or child changes first).
ethnicity	Common ancestry through which groups of people evolve shared values & customs
expressive leader	serving social and emotional functions (traditionally the wife)
externalization	personifying problems as external to persons
family homeostasis	tendency for family to resist change in order to maintain a steady state (to avoid change)
family life cycle	Stages of family life from separation from one’s parents to marriage, having children, growing older, retirement, and finally death
family of origin	A person’s parents & siblings; usually refers to the original nuclear family of an adult
family rule	Governs the range of behavior a family system can tolerate.
family structure	Refers to the functional organization of families that determines how family members interact
family system	The family is conceived as a collective whole entity made up of individual parts plus the way they function together
feedback loop	The core of Cybernetics and the process by which the system gets the information necessary to maintain a steady course.  The return of a portion of the output of a system (see positive and negative feedback)
first-order change	Temporary or superficial changes within a system that do not alter the basic organization of the system.
function of the symptom	The idea that symptoms are often ways to distract or otherwise protect family members from threatening conflicts
general systems theory	A biological model of living systems as whole entities that maintain themselves through continuous input & output from the environment (von Bertalanffy)
group dynamics	Interactions among group members that emerge as a result of properties of group rather than merely their individual personalities (e.g. scapegoats, coalitions, alignments, splits)
hierarchical structure	Clear generational boundaries, where parents maintain control and authority.
instrumental leader	decision making and task functions (traditionally the husband)
intensity	forceful intervening by the therapist
invariant prescription	parents are directed to mysteriously sneak away together.
linear causality	one event is the cause and another is the effect.  Stimulus and response.
linear causality	The idea that one event is the cause & another is the effect: in behavior the idea that one behavior is a stimulus, the other a response
marital schism	A type of marital discord.  A chronic failure to accommodate each other or to achieve role reciprocity
marital skew	Serious psychopathology in one partner who dominates the other.
metacommunication	Communicating (talking) about the ways of communicating.  Every message has two levels: report & command; metacommunication is a covert & often unnoticed message accompanying communication
morphogenesis	Process by which a system changes to adapt to new situations.
multiple family group therapy	Tx of several families at once in a group therapy format (Peter Laquer & Murray Bowen)
multiple impact therapy	An intensive, crisis-oriented form of family therapy developed by Robert MacGregor: family members are treated in various subgroups by a team of therapists
mystification	distorting childs experience by denying or relabeling it.
narrative therapists	help their clients reframe the way they look at things
negative feedback	How far off the mark the system is straying and the corrections necessary.
network therapy	Assisting families in crisis by gathering the whole family, friends, employers, etc.  (their social network)
neutrality	balanced acceptance of family members
object relations	attitudes and beliefs of self and others formed in early childhood (from parents) that drive attitudes and beliefs in current relationships
open system	A system that sustain themselves by continually interacting with outside environment.
ordeals	paradoxical intervention in which the client is directed to do something that is more of a hardship than the symptom
paradox	A self-contradictory statement based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises. See pg. 61.
paradoxical injunction	Therapist directs the family members to continue what they are doing.  If they conform then admit control, if they don't the symptoms stop.
phenomenology	An emphasis on the deep personal involvement with clients instead of dissecting people as objects
positive connotation	ascribing positive motives to family behavior in order to promote family cohesion and avoid resistance to therapy.
positive feedback	information that confirms and reinforces the direction a system is taking.
pretend techniques	playful paradoxical intervention where family members are asked to pretend engage in symptomatic behavior.  (if they are pretending to have the symptom, then it can not be real).
process/content	Distinction between how members of a family or group related & what they talk about
pseudohostility	Superficial bickering that blurs deeper hostility and  affection.
pseudomutuality	A façade of togetherness that masks conflict and blocks intimacy, includes an unnatural dread of separateness.  There is no room for separate identifies.
psuedomutuality	A façade of togetherness that masks conflict & blocks intimacy (Wynne et al.) see pg. 23
psychodrama	A technique whereby patients act out their conflicts instead of just discussing them. One of the earliest approaches to group tx.
punctuation	Describing a sequence of interactions so that it appears one’s behavior was caused by another person. Communication therapists change the punctuation of events to free families from a linear causality framework.
reframing	relabeling behavior to shift how family members respond to it.  E.g.  Family thinks child is lazy, therapist reframes it as depression.
restraining	overcoming resistance by suggesting that the family cannot change
rituals	a set of prescribed actions designed to change a family's system rules
rubber fence	An invisible barrier that stretches to permit obligatory extra-familial involvement, such as going to school, but springs back tightly if that involvement goes too far
second-order change	basic change in the structure or functioning of the system.  Hurley:  the addition of new options to the system.
self-actualization	Our healthy instinct to do what is best for us & helps us flourish (Rogers)
shaping	reinforcing change in small steps
social constructionism	Our interpretations of the world are shaped by the social context in which we live.
solution focused therapy	the best way to solve problems is to discover what people do when they are not having the problem and then build on that
structure of interaction	Recurrent patterns of interaction that define & stabilize the shape of relationships
subsystems	Smaller units in families, determined by generation, sex, or function
symmetrical relationships	Relationships based on equality; the behavior of one mirrors that of the other or is considered parallel
system theory	studying a group of related elements that interact as a whole entity
transference	Distorted emotional reactions to present relationships based on unresolved, early family relations
triangle	the smallest stable unit of relationship
triangulation	Detouring conflict between two people by involving a third person, stabilizing the relationship between the original pair
unbalancing	the therapist joins with one person over another in an effort to break a stalemate situation.
undifferentiated family ego mass	emotional fusion within the family.  Enmeshed families don't allow members to be emotionally differentiated.