Essay On Family Counselling

In this paper, the two therapies chosen are structural therapy and psychoeducation therapy. In order to understand the effectiveness of both the theories two culturally different families are taken in which the first is Indigenous family who lives on the outskirts and has strong culture whereas the other family is a modern western family of Australia who lives in a highly urbanized area but is do not give that much importance to culture as the other family. Thus these two therapies are used to counsel both families with different cultural backgrounds. The culture of Indigenous families is traditional, they give importance to family values, children are a little aggressive in nature, and the people make eye contact which seems over assertive or dominant (Alberti & Emmons, 2017).

Additionally, the children of Indigenous (First Nation) families face issues like lack of services, education, employment, and medical care, broken families, high rate of crimes. The thinking of Indigenous (First Nation) children for life is based on myths. However, though the non-indigenous populations do not face such problems their culture is very different from Indigenous (First Nation) people and the children in these families are less aggressive in nature. The understanding of these people is scientific in nature (Stream Source, 2019). 

 

Thesis- To prove the family relationship has impact on the children 

It is the type of family therapy that helps in enhancing the interactions and relationships between the family members after analyzing the structure of the family. This was first developed by Salvador Minuchin and has been identified as the most prominent therapy (Good therapy, 2017). Due to dysfunctional relationships in the family, the members of the family suffer from stress and other mental distress which impact the relationship between them (Minuchin, 2018, pp. 1-11). The techniques like family mapping are used to identify the problems and maintenance of these issues after examining the family dynamics other techniques like joining, role play, boundary-making and reframing can also be used. This therapy is useful in maintaining the balance with the family, improving the communication and relationship dynamics, minimizing the anger and resentment, and improving reactions to the changing demands. Additionally, this therapy is used to improvise the hierarchies in the family, enhance parental satisfaction, and establish healthy boundaries between the family members. For instance, if the family is undergoing any mental stress or any significant change in their lives, then this theory will help them to deal with that situation in an appropriate manner. A study in 2019 has stated that this therapy when applied to adolescents having mental issues and their families has offered many benefits after the counselling teenagers have shown few externalizing and internalizing symptoms (Jimenez, Hidalgo, Baena, Leon, & Lorence, 2019).

This therapy is responsible to identify the culture and family and try to make tentative connections between the unconscious and internal transfer of emotional experience between the generations. With the help of this theory, the impact of another family member who might be from the previous generation can impact the emotional status of younger generations (Ballard, Fazio-Griffith, & Marino, 2016). For instance, in some cases, it has been observed that young children connect with their grandparents or any other person who has provided emotional care when the parents are not present or in the case when the children get separated from the parents. This transgenerational therapy is based upon the treatment of personal issues. This theory is responsible to clarify certain relationships among the members of the family. This theory does not only focus on the current behaviour, pattern, or emotional dynamics of the families but also helps in determining the implicit family interactions for a long period of time like the inheritance of culture, values, beliefs, immigration, and other issues. Additionally, many therapists or counsellors use this theory of family counselling to reflect upon the past, and using those results they try to solve the current problems like mate selection, child-rearing, and parenting issues, thus helping in shaping the behaviour of the future generations (Chen, Hughes, & Austin, 2017).

The problem within the aboriginal families of Australia is due to the dysfunctional families that take place due to the external pressure or due to the arrival of the transition stage of life. These families are less adaptive which can be observed by their living standards which possess increased rigidity. Their boundaries are rigid and the children get influenced by this environment of the family. Due to this rigidness, they are not able to get support from the external environment. The family mapping technique is used with the indigenous family through mapping the diagrams structuring members of the family, ages, genders, and their relationship with one another (Cherry, 2021). This can be done by inviting the family members to write the names which determine the mutual belongingness that the people whose names are written are “us”. This experiment concluded that children wrote the names of their close relations they did not mention any other names. This shows that the children of Indigenous (First Nation) populations are not connected to their families and other generations. When this experiment is conducted with western non-indigenous families, it was observed that children wrote the names of every member of their family irrespective of their closeness with particular ones. Thus it can be observed that nonindigenous children are not rigid in nature. They accept every individual and their boundaries are also flexible. The changes in the nature of children are positive irrespective of gender which has been supported by the study conducted by the International Journal of environmental research and public health where the authors are in favour of structural therapy of counselling (Jimenez, et al., 2019).

Alfred Adler was the first psychologist who has shown the connection between the families and the result of those families on children. Under this theory, it has been observed that the family of origin determines the foundation of the personality of the person (Good therapy, 2018). This therapy is responsible to shape the behaviour of the child based on the past events, losses, and beliefs which create an image in the child’s mind about the member of the family. In this therapy reactions between the individuals across the generations have been examined which impact the future generations (Atkinson, et al., 2014). For instance, there was a child who was suffering from depression, anxiety, and PTSD and was assessed by a therapist. After examining him the therapist came to the conclusion that he was connected to the family while living in his native land he participated in cultural events and ceremonies in the high school (Verbunt, et al., 2021). As he grew his parents encouraged him to leave that place and attend college at a different place. In college, he started assisting in camps and felt accepted in that new environment. One day the police came and forcibly broke their encampment, sprayed them with fire hoses, and arrested them. This incident changed him as now he became irritated with small things, hyper-vigilant, feel hopeless. He had the fear of getting arrested again whenever he see any police officers his fear get triggered (Phipps & Degger-White, 2014). Therefore from this situation, it can be observed that unconscious grief and trauma remain in the mind of a person especially from the indigenous background as they are rigid and have limited boundaries. However, in the case of non-indigenous populations, this might not be observed as they are provided exposure. This trauma is passed from generations to generation in case of indigenous populations but not in modern populations (Nahulu, Roessel, & Sahlu, 2021). 

The cultures of indigenous people (First Nation) and non-indigenous people are different which impacts future generations. The indigenous people have distinct cultural and social backgrounds as they are more connected to the land and natural resources. Their identities, cultures, livelihood, and physical and spiritual well-being all are dependent upon the land and natural environment in which they live. They have customary leaders who they admire which make them distinct from non-indigenous populations. These characteristics of their family impact the children as they face certain challenges related to the intergenerational impact of colonization, they had to struggle for their rights and identity as indigenous people. The lack of other important resources and education makes them aggressive in nature (Boman, et al., 2014). The face problems related to emotional and physical violence when they live away from home. However, the nonindigenous family culture is different as compared to indigenous families. They do not face the problems related to social and cultural disparities. Additionally, racism-based discrimination, lack of resources, education, and employment cannot be observed in modern families (Forrest & Dunn, 2013). This favouritism impacts child-rearing and child behaviour in society. The children did not see any negative aspects in life as they get a good education and employment opportunities and thus are less violent in nature. They are not aggressive and do not get indulge in drug abuse which eventually keeps them away from mental and physical problems. This change in culture and lifestyle helps in shaping the nature of the child and can be treated by applying family therapies (Bornstein, 2013).

 

However, with advantages, many criticisms have been attached to these therapies of family counselling. In the case of structural theory, it has been stated that it is majorly dependent upon the issues of power between the two generations rather than focusing on the power which is present in the relationship between the generations. Another criticism is that this experiment is based on the nuclear family and ignores the factors like extended family, social institutions, and neighbours (Choi, Pos, & Magnusson, 2016). The criticism regarding the transgenerational family counselling therapy is related to the past situations or events that impact the future of the person as well as its transportation from one generation to another. In other words, as observed in the above example where a person from an indigenous background who suffered from PTSD due to a past incident might not have suffered from this if he had experienced a favourable situation. This also focuses on the particular individual and their past events. Moreover, these therapies are not observed to be more efficient as children irrespective of their cultural background learn from things and events which they keep by themselves. Their nature and behaviour wholly depend upon the environment in which he lives rather than hereditary characters or the family structure (Xia, 2020). 

 

To conclude, the order to conduct structural therapy within the family the therapist must be aware of the sensitivity of the culture of the person. After the application of the structural theory, it has been observed that people become more acceptable to other cultures, which makes it easy to work in the present time. This therapy helps in determining the relation between the family members. in the case of transgenerational therapy, the focus has been made on the individuals rather than the whole family. In this system, individuals are targeted for providing the treatment which is the limitation of this therapy. This therapy defines the behaviours and the beliefs that are present between the generations.

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