Trans-Generational Therapy - Essay Example

This essay is about one the most effective theories of family therapy, trans-generational therapy and its effectiveness. Trans-Generational Family Theory Murray Bowen, Ivan Nagy, James Framn, and Carl Whitaker stipulated the trans-generational models of family therapy. The model is aimed at unveiling how unresolved issues that occurred in the past affect lives in the present. Bowen postulated that past and present conflicts in the family resulted in mental illnesses in people (Goldenberg and Goldenberg, 2008).

He stated that, for complete healing of a family member, the therapy has to include other family members. This serves to eliminate not only the symptoms but also the causative agent. In one example, one boy was disturbed due to his relationship with his father. In this case, Bowen used the father, who was a physician, to treat the son. In his therapy, he mended the relationship between the two and thus eliminated the causative factor (Goldenberg and Goldenberg 178). By so doing, he characterized a family as an emotional unit consisting of people who are in an emotional relationship.

Family therapists in this school of thought have to free a person from the family problems that have an effect on them. These family problems are, in some way, hereditary in that parents had issues that are transferred to their children who in turn transfer to those who come after them. This does not mean that people should abstain from interacting with family members. It means that the therapists should make their clients strike a balance between an individual’s autonomy and family togetherness.

Bowen proposed a change from using conventional counseling methods like unconscious motivations. He proposed utilization of his method which uses existing family relationships especially the forces that tend to pull family members together or away from each other (Goldenberg and Goldenberg, 2008). In identifying these patterns, therapists attempt to break these cycles that are inherited from one generation to the other. Breaking these cycles entails changing from robotic response to external stimuli to more free individuals who can think and analyze situations before responding.

It enables one to live life not based on experiences but their own rational decisions on present issues. Individuals who think about situations are usually mistaken and disconnected. On the contrary, this means that the individual is mature enough. This concept elicited criticism for Bowen who was seen as promoting the rationality of males while discouraging expressiveness of females (Goldenberg and Goldenberg, 2008). Patients have to recognize family patterns and their roles after which they should determine the roles of the other persons.

Their role may be in the form of actions, inactions, behaviors, and words. Finally, they are taught how to adjust their behavior in a way that reduces or alleviates the problem. In this way, the problem of one family member is considered to be everyone’s problem and all the members come in to help in solving the issue. Discussion The trans-generational theory of family therapy is comprehensive in that it explains all factors that are considered before therapy. It has one crucial assumption that makes all the difference; that all