Chapter 12 Feminist Therapy & Chapter 13 Family Systems Therapy

Chapter 12- Feminist Therapy

Feminist therapy puts gender and power at the core of the therapeutic process. It is built on the premise that it is essential to consider the social and cultural context that contributes to a person’s problems in order to understand that person. A central concept in feminist therapy is the psychological oppression of women and the constraints imposed by the sociopolitical status to which women have been relegated. No single individual can be identified as the founder of this approach, and its history is relatively brief. Feminist therapy can be traced to the women’s movement of the 1960’s, a time when women began uniting their voices to express their dissatisfaction with the limiting and confining nature of traditional female roles. Feminist therapists believe gender is central to therapeutic practice, that understanding a client’s problems requires adopting a sociocultural perspective, and that empowerment of the individual and societal changes are crucial goals in therapy. The ultimate goal of feminist therapy is to create the kind of society where sexism and other forms of discrimination and oppression are no longer a reality.

How it relates to CSA: This type of therapy relates to student affairs in that encourages the awareness of gender, which is a prevalent issue. There are offices within student affairs such as ‘Women’s Resource Center’ to help contribute to the advocacy of women and to allow for awareness on a college campus. There might be students who are uncomfortable talking about this topic, yet it is important for student affairs professionals to help create an environment where students feel comfortable and are able to freely talk about a subject that might be avoided. It is vital to make both females and males aware of feminism and how it contributes to discrimination and oppression, and how being aware and advocating for one another can help eliminate this issue.

Video:  Feminist: The client says she feels so mad sometimes and then she hates that anger and how she will yell at one of her kids or it will be inappropriate or get mad about something dumb. She can’t figure out how it can be natural and normal it can all either come out mad which she doesn’t want or nothing. Her reaction to the kids is out of proportion, where is that reaction coming from. The client feels like if her whole life is getting things done for everyone else, she resented those feelings. Women find themselves in “powerlessness” I don’t feel like what I am doing is valued sometimes it’s not about what you are doing but it is about the culture. This relates to feminist theory, in that there is a lack of support in the system we live in regarding women, and using this approach to help women understand that what they are doing is meaningful and just as important as everyone else.

Chapter 13- Family Systems Therapy

Family systems therapy draws on systems thinking to view the family as an emotional unit. When applied to families, systems thinking—evaluating the parts of a system in relation to the whole—suggests that an individual’s behavior is informed by and inseparable from the functioning of his or her family of origin. Family systems therapy is based on Murray Bowen’s family systems theory, which holds that individuals are inseparable from their network of relationships. Like other psychoanalysts of his time, Murray Bowen was interested in creating more scientific and objective treatment processes as an alternative to conventional diagnostic frameworks and pathological language. Bowen believed that all therapists experienced challenges within their family of origin and that this awareness could help therapists normalize human behavior for their clients

How it relates to CSA: This type of therapy can be applied to student affairs in the way that students are coming to a completely new environment that might even seem foreign to them. When trying to become acclimated they will most likely seek out the comfort of family members to help acclimate them to their new surroundings. It is important when building rapport with the student that we ask about their family and the connections and ties they have with each family member. The student may have a strong relationship with his/her mother but have no relationship to his /her father and vice versa. Looking at the emotional connection between the relationships in a family is an important aspect of what shapes a student’s perceptions and how they develop.

Video: Family Systems: The client talks about how she feels that they just are not good for one another that she tends to blame him. She talks about how she wanted him to take care of his kids and for them to not get anything less than what they were used to getting. She felt that when she was looking for the moral support she needed it was not there. In this video it relates to family systems therapy because there is a challenge between her and the way the husband is financially helping the family. There may be different ways of looking at how the conflict can be resolved and the behavior is inseparable because it’s family.