Roles, Rigidity, Repair, and Renovation in Relationships and Therapy

by Ronald Mah

Overview

"Roles, Rigidity, Repair, and Renovation in Relationships and Therapy." Structural theory and therapy principles are applicable not merely with the family, but also applicable to the couple and other relationships, as well as for individual intrapsychic issues among various personas, the ego, id, and superego, or conflicting motivations, drives, needs, feelings versus thoughts, and so forth. Structurally oriented therapy seeks to change organizational patterns of problematic communication and potentially or actively neglectful, harmful, or abusive behaviors. The therapist is guided to take an authoritative position to alter the structure of relationships for the individual, couple, or family. More passive therapeutic approaches are revealed as counter-indicative when the individual for him or herself, or the parents form ineffective executive dyads. The therapist facilitates structural change including lessening or eliminating emotionally and psychologically harmful symptoms. The therapist works to make clients become aware of behavior, situations, roles, and how choices are made. The individual may take, be given, or be compelled to roles and responsibilities that create inherent dysfunction. Rigid and enmeshed extremes in any area can indicate dysfunctional coalitions between and among relationship, couple, or family members.

The therapist is directed to specific client compositions that indicate structural problems and are well served by structural therapeutic principles: blended families, step-parents, families in transition, culturally different couples including same sex couples, and so forth. Also certain client issues benefit from structural assessment and strategies: abuse of any type, substance abuse, and addictions. The therapist will learn important relationships and distinctions between equality and equity-based partnerships including culturally-based models that challenge mutually reciprocal intimates. Structural issues from various influences, including rigid versus over-diffuse boundaries may require repair. The therapist is directed to facilitate reparative processes for addressing problematic or broken dynamics, including poor communication and abusive or neglectful behavior. Therapy is guided to accentuate the good and effective, further facilitating healthy recovery and growth. Ineffective or harmful structure and boundaries are minimized and if possible, eliminated. The therapist is prompted to recognize how sometimes, the relationship structure or boundaries may be inherently corrupt if earlier models were never that healthy. Since sometimes old boundaries had never led to mutually healthy reciprocal nurturance and support in the past or the present, beyond repair the system requires therapeutic attention for a major overhaul or complete renovation to achieve functionality.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940045587693
Publisher:	Ronald Mah
Publication date:	01/17/2014
Series:	Principles of Therapy , #7
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Therapist, educator, author and consultant combine concepts, principles, and philosophy with practical techniques and guidelines for effective and productive results. A Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (licensed 1994), his experiences include:

Psychotherapist: individual, child and teen, couples, and family therapy in private practice in San Leandro, California- specialties include challenging couples, difficult teenagers, Aspergers Syndrome, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, learning disabilities, cross and multi-cultural issues, foster children, child development, parenting, and personality disorders;

Author: twenty-one project/books on couples therapy for a doctoral program, including substantial work on major complications in couples and couples therapy (including depression, anxiety, domestic violence, personality disorders, addiction, and affairs); articles for the Journal of the California Association of Marriage & Family Therapist (CAMFT) on working with teenagers, elder care issues affecting family dynamics, and assessing dangerous clients, online courses for the National Association of Social Workers- California chapter (NASW-CA) on child abuse prevention, legal and ethical vulnerabilities for professionals, and difficult children, “Difficult Behavior in Early Childhood, Positive Discipline for PreK-3 Classrooms and Beyond” (Corwin Press, 2006), “The One-Minute Temper Tantrum Solution” (Corwin Press, 2008), and “Getting Beyond Bullying and Exclusion, PreK-5, Empowering Children in Inclusive Classrooms,” (Corwin Press, 2009); Asian Pacific Islander Parent Education Support (APIPES) curriculum for the City of San Francisco Department of Human Services (1996), 4th-6th Grade Social Science Reader, Asian-American History, Berkeley Unified School District, Berkeley, CA, (1977), and trainer/speaker of 20 dvds on child development and behavior for Fixed Earth Films, and in another time and career three arts and crafts books for children: two with Symbiosis Press (1985 &1987) and one with Price, Sloan, and Stern (1986);

Consultant and trainer: for social services programs working with youth and young adults, Asian-American community mental health, Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED) school programs, therapeutic, social support, and vocational programs for at risk youth, welfare to work programs, Head Start organizations, early childhood education programs and conferences, public, private, and parochial schools and organizations,

Clinical supervisor: for therapists in Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED) school programs, child and family therapists in a community counseling agency, Veteran Affairs in-patient clinician working with PTSD and dual diagnoses, foster care services manager for a school district, manager/supervisor for the Trevor Project-San Francisco, and therapists in a high school mental health clinic;

Educator: credentialed elementary and secondary teacher, Masters of Psychology instructor for Licensed Marriage & Family Therapy (LMFT) and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) track students, 16 years in early childhood education, including owning and running a child development center for 11 years, elementary & secondary teaching credentials, community college instructor, and trainer/speaker for staff development and conferences for social services organizations including early childhood development, education, social work, and psychotherapy.

Other professional roles: member Ethics Committee for six years and at-large member Board of Directors for four years for the California Association of Marriage & Family Therapist (CAMFT), and member Board of Directors of the California Kindergarten Association (CKA) for two three-year terms.

Personal: married since 1981 after dating since 1972 to girlfriend/wife/life partner with two wonderful strong adult daughters, and fourth of five American-born children from immigrant parents- the older of the "second set" of children.