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Individual in Structural Family Therapy

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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

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Introduction

Unlike other systemic approaches that may “carry the practitioner into rigidities that mirror the mistakes of linear therapists, denying the individual while enthroning the system” (Minuchin et al. 1978, p. 91), Structural Family Therapy takes into account the idiosyncratic characteristics of individual family members, both for assessment and intervention purposes. However, those individual characteristics are defined differently from how they are from a traditional psychodynamic perspective.

Theoretical Context

Structural Family Therapy conceptualizes the individual as a subsystem of the family, with roles and functions within the larger whole. Participation in family life and individual differentiation are not seen as opposites but as two sides of the same process. The child’s identity begins to develop in interaction with parents, siblings, and other family members: “The child has to act like a son as his father acts like a father; and when the child does so, he may...

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References

  • Colapinto, J. (1987) Cebollas y pizzas. El problema del individuo en terapia familiar. Congreso de Terapia Familiar. Buenos Aires.

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

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  • Minuchin, S., et al. (1978). Psychosomatic families. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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  • Minuchin, S., Reiter, M., & Borda, C. (2013). The craft of family therapy: Challenging certainties. New York: Routledge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Minuchin Center for the Family, Woodbury, NJ, USA

    Jorge Colapinto

Authors
  1. Jorge Colapinto
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Correspondence to Jorge Colapinto .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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

    Jay Lebow

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

    Anthony Chambers

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

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Iowa City, IA, USA

    David Kearns

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

    Bahareh Sahebi

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Colapinto, J. (2018). Individual 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_967-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_967-1

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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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