Background
Argentine-born psychiatrist Salvador Minuchin developed the model in the 1960s with low-income families of delinquent boys at the Wiltwyck School in New York, and later at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, known for work with anorexic families. It applies general systems theory to families.
Key concepts
- Structure: repeated patterns governing family interaction.
- Subsystems: spousal, parental and sibling.
- Boundaries: clear boundaries are healthy; rigid ones produce disengagement and diffuse ones enmeshment.
- Hierarchy and coalitions: parents need appropriate authority; cross-generational coalitions and triangulation of children are dysfunctional.
Process and techniques
- Joining: entering the system by tracking and mimesis.
- Family mapping of boundaries and alliances.
- Enactment: having the family play out problem interactions in session and changing them there.
- Boundary making, unbalancing and reframing.
Versus Bowen
Bowen family systems theory emphasises multigenerational emotional processes and differentiation, with the therapist as a calm coach. Structural therapy focuses on present interaction and uses an active, directive therapist.
Assessment
Influential with low-income families and eating disorders, it has been criticised by feminist therapists for reinforcing traditional gender roles through its emphasis on hierarchy.
References
- Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and Family Therapy. Harvard University Press.
- Minuchin, S., & Fishman, H. C. (1981). Family Therapy Techniques. Harvard University Press.
- Nichols, M. P., & Davis, S. D. (2017). Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods (11th ed.). Pearson.