Family Counseling Theory: Virginia Satir
Kristine Mitchell
550 150
October 26, 2012
Jerome VanKirk
Family Counseling Theory: Virginia Satir / 2
Abstract
This paper examines the originator of an experiential humanistic therapy process; Virginia Satir. The history of Satir’s theory is explored as well as some major concepts. Her strategies and techniques are outlined as well as some of the strengths and weaknesses. There is relevance highlighted of the impact Satir’s theory has on addition.
Family counseling Theory: Virginia Satir
Virginia Satir was considered the Mother of Family Therapy (Virginia, n.d.). Satir is a Wisconsin native raised on a farm in Neillsville (Virginia, n.d.). At an early age, Satir was intrigued by the family and she knew intuitively that there was more that went on in families than was apparent to the naked eye (Virginia, n.d.). Her family moved to Milwaukee, WI in order for her to attend high school (Virginia, n.d.). Later she attended the Milwaukee State Teachers College, which is now called University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Virginia, n.d.). Satir went on to publish Conjoint Family Therapy, Peoplemaking and The New Peoplemaking to name a few (Virginia, n.d.).
The history of Satir’s family therapy model started with her work as a social worker during her time in private practice in 1951, where she saw families in therapy (Chapter 4, n.d.). Later, in 1955, at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute she involved students in a training program of family therapy (Chapter 4, n.d.). By 1959 Satir, “joined the Palo Alto, California, group of the Mental Research institute” (p. 135) where she remained as the director of training until 1966 (Chapter 4, n.d.). At that time she continued her directorship at the Esalen Institue in California (Chapter 4, n.d.). As her therapy approach continued to expand she gave many lectures and workshops (Chapter 4, n.d.). In the end, she focused on the community and eventually focused her efforts on world peace (Chapter 4, n.d.).
The major concepts of Satir’s family therapy theory outlined in Chapter 4 (n.d.), include the following (p. 137):
· Our family of origin, including past generations, has a significant influence on our attitudes and behaviors
· Families are systems and as such seek balance; when that balance I maintained through inappropriate roles, restrictive rules, and/or unrealistic expectations, the members’ needs will not be met, and dysfunction will occur.
· The result of dysfunctional family systems is low self-esteem and defensive behavior, as the basic drive of human beings is to enhance self-esteem and defend against threats to it.
· Each person contains all the resources one needs for growth and healthy functioning.
· The therapist and his or her beliefs are the most important tools at his or her command.
In addition, Satir looked at pain as a central part of being human (Hart, 2007). Hart (2007) continues to explain that Satir recognized family pain as a manifestation of one individual member of the family permeating to the rest of the family. She called this person the “Identified Patient” (I.P.). Also to be included in Satir’s major concepts is personal communication, presenting problem, family constellation, restructuring and triangulation to name a few.
According to Hart (2007), Satir’s communication theory has its roots in the idea that we seldom communicate true feelings. She continues to say that this communication must take place in the here and now between individuals not shadowed by the past or regrets. Hart (2007) continues to explain that communication is often incongruent to what a person is truly experiencing in order to avoid vulnerability. Some of Satir’s communication patterns Hart (2007) describes are blamer, placate, irrelevant and super-reasonable. According to Hart (2007), Satir says if an individual uses incongruent communication patterns they refrain from having to protect themselves, hence she says, “people lie most of the time” (p. 3).
Satir’s idea of the “presenting issue” or surface problem is another area of avoiding the truth (“Victoria,” n.d.). Satir believed that the underlying cause to a family’s problems is the way they cope with the situation rather than what seems to be the problem. A good example might be an individual in the family who does the cooking may feel overwhelmed by the work. Instead of asking for help he/she may instead complain, berate, or yell to deal with his frustration. It may even be a trigger for using drugs or alcohol. This may play out on other family members to affirm low self-esteem while others may placate in order to keep the peace. If the individual who feels overwhelmed by the chore of cooking could ask for help or tell the family her real feelings about the situation, the family would have a better understanding of her situation and may offer to chip in and help.
As important as the presenting issue is to Satir’s theory, personal self-esteem is equally important in a family system. Self-esteem is intrinsically linked to other factors in a family system such as the way individuals communicate; the risks they take as well as the rules that individuals adopt (“Virginia Satir: The,” n.d.). When an individual has low self-esteem it affects the way they communicate within the family. For instance, the rule an individual adopts not to talk about personal issues worsens the personal problem (“Virginia Satir: The,” n.d.). In order to change this rule an individual will need to risk communicating with another individual (“Virginia Satir: The,” n.d.). This is a way to develop strong communication skills and the beginning of developing a higher self-esteem.
Risk can have a down side if a child choses risky behavior such as drinking or drug use. Learning how to take risk is essential in developing identity and self-esteem. It is a time to become self-aware and accept all the elements of the self, even the confusing ones. In order for a child to have a chance to learn these things they need a safe and balanced environment. Parents who use drugs are alcohol cannot provide this type of environment. Bordini (n.d.) says children with alcoholic parents often have low self-esteem. In addition, isolation from peers, shame and emotional distress accompany alcoholic parents. Parents, Bordini (n.d.) continues, are often absent causing children to either suppress problems leading to depression or anxiety while others may act out. Low self-esteem may develop from poor school performance under these stressors.
Much of Virginia Satir’s strategies were focused on personal growth. Satir’s Growth Model points to elicit long standing changes in individuals through (Fredricks, 2012, prar 4):
· Enhancing awareness and understanding of communication patterns
· Discovering family of origin learnings and coping patterns
· Building self-esteem
· Expanding self-discovery and self-responsibility
· Diagnosing dysfunctional dynamics and reshaping relationships
· Enhancing congruence and tapping internal resources for external change
Her goal was to support family systems, organizations, individuals and communities through positive changes using this model. Her poem “Goals for Me” demonstrates her perspective of family therapy (Fredricks, 2012, para 5):
I want to love you without clutching,
Appreciate you without judging
Join you without invading,
Invite you without demanding,
Leave you without guilt,
Criticize you without blaming,
And help you without insulting.
If I can have the same from you,
Then we can truly enrich each other.
Along with positive changes in self-esteem, Satir developed a way of working with families and clients called Family Reconstruction (“Family,” n.d.). This process required individuals to get as much information about their family going back three generations (“Family,” n.d.). By developing a family history, an individual can see family stories with fresh eyes (“Family,” n.d.). Family sculpting also developed from Satir’s reconstruction theory, which unveiled patterns of communications. Then families could find more constructive ways of communicating (Family n.d.).
Satir’s contributions to family therapy was significant. According to Vila (n.d.), Satir’s systems’ drop out rate was 5.1% where as others were as high as 60%. In addition Satir therapists were 93.7% successful in engaging clients as opposed to others that were as low as 36%. Also, the rate of completion of treatment for Satir therapists was 88.8% where as another model was as low as 26.5%. Likewise, satisfaction by clients for Stir’s Model was rated as high. These results in research reflect only a partial insight to the contributions Satir’s therapy has made to family therapy.
Although Satir’s contributions were great, there are some weaknesses associated with her theory. Vila (n.d.) suggests that Satir’s therapy process is dependent on the creativity and personality of the therapist. In addition, it makes the assumptions that the best was done by the parents as well as assumes a primary triad family structure. According to Vila (n.d.), the effectiveness of Satir’s therapy lacks research.
Even though there may be weaknesses, the strengths of Satir’s theory shine through. Vila (n.d.) lists the following strengths (slide 42):
· Concentrates on multigenerational patterns
· Diagnoses dysfunctional dynamic in relationships
· Respects the uniqueness of each human life
· Can be applied to several work settings, cultures, family types, groups, couple and individuals
· Aims at lasting change
· Increases individual self-esteem
· Improves interpersonal communication skills
· Enhances family functioning
· Provides a process model for both personal and professional growth function.
Satir’s approach is also critical in addressing the issue of addiction. Satir focus on self-esteem paves the way for undoing much of the trauma or hardships developed as a child from dysfunctional family patterns. Zitin (2010) says, addiction is a way to avoid self-awareness, which carries the pain and suffering an individual has. Feeling guilt, shame or low self-esteem can escalate to the point to cause severe anxiety or depression. These feelings are often avoided by the addict through drug or alcohol use. Through Satir’s approach individuals can learn to take risk, and build a self-esteem as well as the communication skills to fulfill needs and connect with others.
Satir’s theory gives permission to delve deeper into the self and become one’s own best friend. It focuses on the development of authenticity and truth. In addition, it focuses on individual responsibility. Although family patterns and history play an important role in her theory, the way to health and well-being is through self-awareness, truth and ownership as well as risk and change. Adopting Satir’s therapy process may not be an easy road, but it is one that has the potential to reshape negative family systems into long lasting positive ones.
References
Bordini Ph.D., E.(n.d.). How does an alcoholic parent impact the family? Retrieved October 24, 2012, from http://cpancf.com/articles_files/alcoholicparentimpact.asp
Chapter 4: Communications/humanistic family therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/35409_Chapter4.pdf
Family Therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2012, from http://www.theinnerprocess.com/family-sculpting.html
Fredricks, Ph.D., R. (2012). Satir transformational systemic therapy. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from http://www.randifredricks.com/randi/satir.cfm
Hart, T. (2007). A review of conjoint family therapy and the theories of Virginia Satir. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://voices.yahoo.com/a-review-conjoint-family-therapy-theories-563454.html?cat=72
Vila, S. (n.d.). Virginia Satir’s Theory of Family Therapy. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from http://www.slideshare.net/S_Vila/virgina-satirs-presentation
Virginia Satir. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Satir
Virginia Satir: The self-esteem system. (n.d.) Retrieved October 24, 2012, from http://mccall-foundation.org/pagesother/satirpopup.html
Zitin, S. (2010). Addictions vs. self awareness-what is the relationship? Retrieved October 24, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Addictions-Vs-Self-Awareness---What-is-the-Relationship?&id=4578342