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Coalition in Structural Family Therapy

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

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Name of Concept

Coalition in structural family therapy

Introduction

Salvador Minuchin developed structural family therapy based on the belief that family is more than a group of individuals with shared biology. Family members relate to one another and create agreements and allyships, i.e., alliances, demonstrated through certain arrangements that govern their relational and interactional patterns. These arrangements, though not always overtly expressed or known by the family, form a structure whereby each family member abides by and behaves accordingly (Minuchin 1974). Structural family therapists believe the way some family members organize can serve a functional or dysfunctional purpose. Structural family therapists view coalitions as a dysfunctional alliance.

Theoretical Context for Concept

According to Aponte and Van Deusin (1981), every interaction in a family is a statement about boundaries, alignments, and power. Boundaries dictate the roles, rules, and interactional patterns...

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References

  • Aponte, H. J., & Van Deusin, J. M. (1981). Structural family therapy. In F. M. Dattillo & L. J. Bevilacqua (Eds.), Comparative treatments for relationship dysfunction (pp. 45–57). New York: Springer.

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  • Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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  • Minuchin, S., Rosman, B. L., & Baker, L. (1978). Psychosomatic families: Anorexia nervosa in context. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Jessica M. Moreno

  2. Alliant International University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Sarah K. Samman

Authors
  1. Jessica M. Moreno
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  2. Sarah K. Samman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica M. Moreno .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jay Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, IL, USA

    Anthony Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, IL, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Kelley Quirk Ph.D.

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Adam Fisher Ph.D.

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© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Moreno, J.M., Samman, S.K. (2018). Coalition in Structural Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_250-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_250-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

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