Family Systems Therapy

Another Chance, Sharon Wegscheider Cruse

The notion of family systems therapy appeals to me. The idea that if one person can be helped to change, the entire family dynamic can be altered is a statement of hope. I embrace the idea of "whole person/whole family" treatment because it reflects my experiences regarding the individual and the family. I want family systems therapy to be a panacea, but it isn't.

Perhaps my earlier notion of family systems therapy was overly idealized by previous professors: if you can affect a change in one member of the family, no matter how slight, then you can change the entire family dynamic. I think we each know at least one person who has engaged in years of productive therapy, morphing into an evolved individual who is so different from the family of origin that new friends mumble, "How did YOU come from that family?" and, still, the family dynamic remains intact and the evolved member helpless to change it. I may have to settle for the satisfaction of helping one person at a time and knowing that each person I help is one more free person.

Spirituality is one of the pilings of Cruse's treatment philosophy, and although I agree with her belief that a human being is comprised of six interwoven "potentials", I draw the line at infusing one's treatment philosophy with one's spiritual beliefs. Though we share the same bias, it is my opinion that working from this perspective implies that the client will not be considered whole, and therefore

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pulsive disorder. Vasopressin is usually released in response to physical and possibly emotional stress and may contribute to the obsessive behavior in some patients with eating disorders. Hoffman (1994) reports that levels of neuropeptide Y and peptide YY are elevated in anorexics and bulimics and that the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) is known to be low in some women with bulimia. These findings are significant because Y and YY have been shown to stimulate eating in laboratory animals, and CCK causes lab animals to feel full and stop eating. Lacking sufficient levels of CCK may explain why some bulimics do not feel satisfied after eating and, therefore, continue to binge. New research suggests that some patients with anorexia may respond well to the antidepressant medication fluoxetine, which affects serotonin function in the body (Hoffman, 1994, p. 6). However, researchers still do not know if eating disorders are the symptoms of an underlying biochemical condition or if the medical problems actually develop because of the isolation, stigma and physiological changes caused by the eating disorder. Eating disorders seem to run in families. Genetic factors may predispose some people to eating disorders (Hoffman, 1994, p

Category: Psychology - F