REPORT

ON
FAMILY THERAPY
Submitted To :
MRS. SUMITHA MASIH
HOD, NURSING EDUCATION
CIP , RANCHI
Submitted by :
Kiranbir kaur
M.Sc, Nsg 1st year
SINPMS, Badal

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 FAMILY THERAPY

Family counselling, like the name suggests, is a type of therapy that involves the whole family.
The idea behind is it is that families having difficulties or that have one person who is going
through a tough time go to see a counsellor/therapist and try to sort out the issues together.

They work on their relationships with each other, try to improve communication and get an
understanding about what factors in the family are causing problems for people. Sometimes
families can be affected by certain events or changes – a bereavement, a divorce, moving to a
new place or loss of a job – and can need to take some time to deal with whatever’s happened.

Virginia Satir (26 June 1916 – 10 September 1988) was an American author and social worker,
known especially for her approach to family therapy and her work with family reconstruction.
She is widely regarded as the "Mother of Family Therapy"Her most wellknown books are
Conjoint Family Therapy, 1964.

Sometimes situations that have gone on for a long time can cause problems, like a lack of
communication for example. Going to counselling together can mean no one feels isolated, and
that people understand how everyone else is feeling. This can make a big difference in terms of
how they behave.

Family therapy can be defined as any psychotherapeutic endeavor that explicitly focuses on
altering the interactions between or among family members and seeks to improve the
functioning of the family as a unit, or its subsystems, and the functioning of individual
members of the family.

Goals :

I. To reduce dysfunctional behaviour of individual family members.

II. To resolve or reduce intrafamily relationship conflicts.
III. To improve family communication skills.
IV. To heighten awareness and sensitivity to other family members to meet their needs.
V. To strengthen the family ability to cope with the major life stressors and traumatic events.
VI. To improve integration of the family system into the social system.

Indications:

 Problems in the relationship within the family(urge existence of communication or

generation gap)
 Interdependence of symptoms(e.g. the wife’s depression being contingent on the
husband’s alcohol consumption and vice versa)
 Failure of individual therapy(may be because family tensions have not been handled)
 Development of stress in other family members when one family member improves (e.g.
development of depression in wife following husband’s giving up drinking, leading to his
improves participation in family matters)

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Contraindications:

A. Family factors :

o Family in the process of breaking up

 Families in which tense, dysfunctional equilibrium is present.
 Families staying apart
 No availability of the key family member
 Unwillingness to accept the therapy.

Functions of the family therapy

a. Boundary function: boundaries will maintain a distinction between individuals with the
family. Rigid boundaries prevent family members from trying out new ideas.
b. Communication function: communication within the family encourages its members to
express their feelings or emotions appropriately.
c. Supportive function: supportive function within the family give freedom to grow and
explore new roles within the family members.
d. Socialization function: socialization helps to interact, negotiate and plan adopts coping
skills within the members of the family.
e. Biological function: family is a medium where the sex relations are regulated.
f. Psychological function: love, belongingness, affection, sympathy, security, attention,
emotional satisfaction, sexual relationship, intimacy etc. will be attained through family.
g. Educational function: mother is the first teacher and primary care giver who will take
care of the children. Child’s personality and character formation will be attained through
family. Protective function: family protects the interest of the child, provides security to
cultivate healthy behavior.
h. Recreational function: family creates an atmosphere where the child’s interest can be
fulfilled. The love among family members will create positive interest in the child.
i. Religious function: family develops religious thoughts, kind heartedness and fellow
belonging. The child learns more moral values, ethics, codes, honesty, truthfulness,
traditions and religious patterns.
j. Cultural function: family molds its members according to its culture. It transmits ideas,
folkways, mores, customs, traditions, beliefs and values from one generation to another
generation.
k. Social function: - maintain social status and controls member’s activities. -Promotes
safety and security and lays emphasis on kinship patterns -provides physical shelter,
food, clothing which are necessary to the existence of life.

TYPES OF FAMILY THERAPY:

INDIVIDUAL FAMILY THERAPY : In individual family therapy, each family member has a
single therapist. The whole family may meet occasionally with one or two of the therapists to see
how the member’s ae relating to one another and work out specific issues that have been defined
by the individual members.

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CONJOINT FAMILY THERAPY : The most common type of family therapy is the single-
family group, or conjoint family therapy. The nuclear family is seen, and the issues and problems
raised by the family are the ones addressed by the therapist. The way in which the family
interacts is observed and becomes the focus of therapy. The therapist helps the family deal more
effectively with problems as they arise and are defined.

Family therapy in CIP , Ranchi

Name of the patient : Nasim ahmad

Age and sex : 28 years/ male

Ward : Krapelin Ward

Diagnosis : Bipolar affective disorder + current episode mix+ mild mental

retardation

CRF No. : 38887

MARRITAL STATUS : Unmarried

EDUCATION : Primary

OCCUPATION : Farmer

MOTHER TONGUE : Bengali

ADDRESS : Vill. Maldih PO: Doardih Distt. Purulia West Bengal 723107

WARD : Krapelen ward

SESSION I

Patient’s father came for family counseling today. Firstly , they informed about mental
retardation in general . After that, they were given mental retardation counseling for the patient .
Following this, the patient’s father was psycho educated about the patient’s illness . Then, they
were told about bipolar affective disorder , its causes , symptoms of each phase etc. They were
also told about the importance of activity scheduling and was encouraged to follow the schedule
even after discharge of the patient when he is at home. From family assessment, it was resulted
that there is stigma present in the family in the form of critical comments given the home as well
as from his neighbors. So , the patient’s father was told about that & its ill-effect in the patient’s
psychological health. He was told not to give critical comments to him by anyone in any form ,
be it by the family members or neighbors . Lastly, he was told about the importance of
medication , its side-effects , its continuity etc.

SESSION II

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In the next session, rapport was established with patient’s father . The patient was sad and
shouted . After that incident , he was explained about condition of the patient . the queries of
father were answered related to problem of his son . he taught about the factors influencing
health of his son and how to reduce them .