Investigating Parents in Child Therapy - Essay Example

Running Head: INVESTIGATING PARENTS IN CHILD THERAPY Getting to the Core of the Problem: Investigating Parents in Child Therapy School Getting to the Core of the Problem: Investigating Parents in Child Therapy Introduction The wellness of an individual depends on a number of factors including the fulfillment of basic needs, educational/professional achievement, societal acceptance and family relationships. Among these factors, family relationships have become a serious concern in many areas especially in schools based on the growing number of cases of students with disruptive behavior. This paper reflects on the importance of family, especially the role of parents, in resolving problems of disruptive behavior and poor performance in school. Combining Family Therapy theories, the current paper expounds on the techniques that may be used to effect changes in the parents’ realization of their roles and the way they affect their child according to how they relate with each other at home. The proposed techniques may be applied in the real setting with some revisions to fit the needs and requirements of the client. The Assumptions Family Therapy has been proven to resolve problems of youth with disruptive behavior, substance abuse, and poor learning ability, including ADHD (Nichols & Schwartz, 2001, p.402). In this paper, we rely on a combination of Family Therapy approaches to resolve the problem of a child with disruptive behavior and poor performance in school. Commonly, behavioral approaches are used in therapy and counseling to resolve problems of children in school. However, behavioral problems are limited in their approach because they consider a monadic view of the individual (ibid, p.377) and forget to see the client as a part of the family, with all its systems and functions. Therefore, the current paper relies on Family Therapy approaches, which trace the root of the problem, specifically the relationship of the couple and the dynamic roles the parents and other members of the family take to help the child cope with the challenges and complexities associated with school. Using Bowen’s Family Systems Theory, we assume that parents themselves would trace the cause of their child’s misconduct. In addition, using Minuchin’s Structural Family Therapy, we hope that parents will play the role expected of them as parents. Conceptualization of Personal Symptoms and Problems Many children nowadays develop disruptive behaviors and perform poorly in school due to some problems at home, which they cannot solve on their own. Marital issues, especially those made worse by violence, have a way to affect children in the most negative way. Exposing a child to domestic violence could later lead to adverse effects. Realizing this truth, parents should strive to eliminate the problems between them, and do their best to change for the sake of their children. The use of Family Therapy is best to deal with the problem. According to Nichols and Schwartz, “family-based interventions are now recognized as the most effective treatments for several disorders, most specially childhood, behavioral problems” (ibid., p.399). The case being considered is Dino, a nine-year old boy reported to have been disruptive in class and performing very low. Dino is not a special case. He looks like a normal, average boy who is capable of controlling his emotions. However, he was reported to show signs of having no motivation to study as he made activities (e.g., cutting paper, constructing paper planes, etc.) on his own and sometimes refused to participate in class activities. At first, Dino’s behavior was thought to be normal for children of his age. However, lately, his habit of doing his own paper projects has become disruptive as he flew planes while the classes were ongoing, passed on his drawings to other students to mock them, and refused to do some activities, pretending to be sick. Dino’s behavior has affected his performance in school, making him a problem case for retention in his current grade level. The teacher has called the parents’ attention to the problem, but they did not contribute any better as the father punished the boy for behaving negatively in school. The response of the parents to the school’s initial step of helping the child demonstrates that the real problem could be caused by the parents themselves. Dino’s mother is 27 years old, a housewife who has just given birth to her fourth baby last year. She was 18 years old when she had Dino, while the father was 19. Dino’s father is working as a cleaner in a hospital, and is not earning much for a family of four kids. Whenever the parents argued about finances, they would hurt each other in front of their kids, thus making the children exposed to domestic violence. Dino has a sister who is in a lower grade level than his. Although the girl is not so much a problem in class, she was reported to arrive tardy at times and dressed shabbily or having incomplete materials for school. Also, while Dino keeps quiet about the negative experiences at home, his sister verbalizes to her teacher what she sees and hears from her parents. The Goal of Therapy The goal of the therapy is not just for Dino. As one can see, the root of the problem is Dino’s parents, whose way of handling domestic problems proves to be unhealthy for their children. Dino needs to be motivated to learn, however, this goal seems to be impossible while he continuously sees his parents argue and throw knives at each other. The goal of the therapy then is to engage the parents to trace the real cause of their problem and make them realize their role in the lives of their children. Later on, when they have considered the causes of the problems, they should be able to determine certain actions they need to take to improve the present situation. The Role of the Psychologist The role of the psychologist is to assess the needs of the client. Basically, the psychologist should identify the situation and the events that triggered the present situation. In fact, the basic information about the couple, that is, having financial problems and lack or material resources has been identified as the main problem that triggers domestic violence, which in turn leads to Dino’s disruptive behavior in school. As such, the role of the psychologist has been done, but more information about the client and his family background should be provided by the psychologist. In addition, the psychologist should be the one to recommend the approach to be employed in dealing with the clients. The Role of the Therapist The role of the therapist is to direct the couple to an understanding of their situation. This is important to make them realize their mistakes and to take action to improve the situation. The therapist will rely on the information that the psychologist will provide, but definitely, more information may be gathered during the course of the therapy. The Main Techniques Using Bowen’s theory of Family Systems, the couple will be led to identify how each of them feel about the situation, and why each of them has allowed violence at home. The therapist may employ the genogram to trace the roots of violence in each other’s original family, relying on the idea that exposure to violence at their own homes predisposes a person to future violence in his/her own home (Long, 2009). The genogram will also provide further information about the background of the two, considering the reason behind their early marriage. Likewise, using Bowen’s idea of emotional triangulation, the therapist may include the concept of interlocking triangles to determine whether the father feels threatened to be outside the family triangle with the coming of the children. Also, using Minuchin’s Structural Family Therapy, the therapist will lead the couple to identify their roles in the family. In particular, the therapy may involve the use of task analysis to guide the couple and the children to a better engagement with their family roles.The father, being the provider is expected to work for the family to give the children enough means live whereas the mother, who is a housewife should be the one to care for the children and provide guidance in their schooling. Although each of the parents has his/her own roles to fulfill, it should be clear to the father that both of them should provide the emotional needs of the children and of each other. The role of the father does not end in providing means to live; it extends to providing emotional and social needs, especially in the case of Dino because while the mother takes care of the smaller siblings, someone should attend to Dino and his sister. The Role of the Client The client’s role in the therapy process is basically to trace the root cause of the problem with Dino. First, the parents should realize that what is happening with Dino could be due to the violence he experiences at home. The couple should express willingness to remedy the problem by realizing that fighting verbally or physically can affect their children in a negative way. Moreover, they should be able to translate into action the plans they would make during the therapy. The Effectiveness of the Approach and Appropriateness to Various Clintele Titelman explains that the focus of Bowen’s approach is to facilitate “the effort of a family member to deal with the emotional process within one’s self and in relation to one’s family in the face of anxiety-provoking life situations and events” (1998, p.8). As mentioned above, in the case being considered, the father is the one to play the role of the significant person to deal with the emotional process for his family. Considering the theory of triangulation, the father should be the one to adjust in the emotional triangle. That is, with the coming of the children, he should learn how to adjust to develop an emotional triangle with each of the children instead of just focusing on the wife. However, as the husband is unaware of his unique role in the lives of his children, he often deals only with his wife, and notices that she has become preoccupied in her role as a mother. The father feels like a stranger in this setup, thus exerts violence to have his power recognized. He must have believed that making his authority realized could win his wife’s attention again, but he is wrong because the more he hurts his wife, the more she turns away from him. The story of Dino’s parents is a common scenario among couples with three or more children. In the said setting, the father is usually left outside the triangle. Considering the violence exerted initially by the father, the mother employs distancing to stay outside of the relationship. Thus, the episode of violence is repeated as the mother tries to pull away from the suffocating relationship. According to Titelman, “distancing is a regulator for anxiety generated by emotional attachment” (1998, p.293). In the case of Mrs. Swain (ibid.), a wife who has experienced being physically hurt by her husband, distancing becomes a resort to get away from the suffocating relationship with the husband. In this regard, Dino’s father should understand that violence is not the correct resort to gain the emotional fulfillment he needs. Rather, it is through realizing his role as a father to Dino and the other kids that could help him reestablish the trustful relationship with his wife. The case of Dino also illustrates the truth about birth position in the Family Systems theory. Titelman explains that in families characterized by a high level of anxiety, the oldest child may be needy and helpless, whereas “a younger sibling may take on the responsibility” (ibid. p. 283). This is evident in the role being projected by Dino’s sister. The use of the family genogram may also be helpful to root out the cause of the violence in the family. The couple will understand their behavior, especially their tendency to become violent by tracing family roots of violence. Chrzastowski (2011) recommends the use of a genogram in conducting family therapy using the Narrative Therapy approach. In this particular study, the genogram guided clients in narrating experiences. Similarly, in the case of Dino’s parents, the genogram could help both parties to share their experiences, thus making it easier for them to open up. Meanwhile, Minuchin’s Structural Therapy has been proven effective for handling cases of “psychosomatic symptoms in children, anorexia in children, heroin addiction in young adults, school adjustment and anxiety,” and so on (Gurman, 2008, p.343). Heatherington and Friedlander (1990) support the use of task analysis in family therapy process. Task analysis is particularly helpful in making couples project plans for restructuring their family systems in the future. The Congruence of the Approaches As a future therapist, I admire the family therapy approaches of Bowen and Minuchin for their relevance in the modern situation. We can say that the problems associated with dysfunctional families are the most common roots of violence, crimes, and other evils in society. As such, the theories of Bowen and Minuchin would help to trace problems that appear in the current society. Similar to Nichols and Schwartz’s (2001) view about the significance of family therapy even in individual therapy, I believe that relying on family background, genograms, triangulation and family structure will serve as a good instrument to root the problems from their real cause. Although nothing much can be done about the past, therapy clients can determine the actions they need to take upon learning from their parents’ mistakes and gaining wisdom about their present position in the family’s emotional and functional structure. In particular, I admire Bowen’s theory of triangulation because it can be applied in different relationships, especially in counseling divorcing couples. Using the theories of Bowen and Minuchin could help me save marriages as I guide my future clients to realize the responsibility that they should play in making a marriage last. References Gurman, A. (2008). Clinical handbook of couple therapy. NY: Guilford Press. Heatherfield, L. & Friedlander, M. (1990). Applying task analysis to structural family therapy. Journal of Family Psychology (4) 1, 36-48. Long, H. (2009). Marriage and family case study. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://www.bukisa.com/articles/56898_marriage-and-family-therapy-case-study Nichols, & Schwartz. (2001). Family therapy: Concepts and methods. NY: Allyn and Bacon. Titelman, P. (1998). Clinical applications of Bowen family systems theory. NY: Routledge. Read More