Hypothesizing — Circularity — Neutrality: Three Guidelines for the Conductor of the Session

Selvini, Matteo; Boscolo, Luigi; Cecchin, Gianfranco; Prata, Giuliana

doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.1980.00003.x

Cited by 704 publications

(166 citation statements)

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“…Here the term language refers to how communication is established in the therapeutic conversation in order to achieve treatment goals. The role of language in therapy has been widely recognized in family therapy, especially in systemic (Selvini, et al, 1980;Tomm, 1987aTomm, , 1987bTomm, , 1988, language systems (Anderson & Goolishian, 1988) and solution-focused therapies (de Shazer, et al, 1986;de Shazer & Molnar, 1984). In SOFT we pay particular attention to language by considering 1) how questions are constructed, 2) how negative descriptions can be reframed toward more constructive modes and 3) how we use scales in dialogues about behavioral…”

Section: Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The CLINICAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY 16 question is formulated in a circular way that requires comparison with other family members and automatically involves other parts of the family (Selvini, et al, 1980). John answers with pride: "I eat more than my father".…”

Section: Intervene With Questions (Observe-analyze-intervene)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The way in which the SOFT team members approach the family is based on a principle of systemic framework called Neutrality (Selvini, et al, 1980). Neutrality can be explained as a state of curiosity (Cecchin, 1987).…”

Section: Be Neutralmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, SOFT is the only treatment model for obesity that relies on coherent integration of family systems theory and therapy, developed and evaluated in a medical setting. SOFT integrates systemic (Selvini, Boscolo, Cecchin, & Prata, 1980) and solution-focused theory and principles (de Shazer, et al, 1986) and is an empirically validated family therapy model for children and adolescents with obesity. SOFT differs from a standard family therapy practice in many clinics working with a range of different problems, as this model has been developed and applied for one illness -obesity -and is performed in a medical setting.…”

Section: Soft Compared To Other Treatment Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Family therapy as a model for treating childhood obesity: Useful tools for clinicians

Nowicka

Flodmark

2010

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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More than fifteen percent of children in Europe are overweight; another five percent are obese. The high prevalence of obesity emphasizes the necessity of developing evidence based treatment programs that are useful in a clinical setting. Management of childhood obesity is commonly based on lifestyle interventions where nutrition, physical activity, and behavior modification are the main targets. To incorporate lifestyle interventions, many childhood obesity treatment models use different psychological models, such as behavior modification or cognitive behavior therapy. This paper presents the key lessons from a research program on an empirically supported family therapy-based treatment, Standardized Obesity Family Therapy (SOFT). SOFT is based on systemic and solution-focused theories and has shown positive effects on the child with respect to degree of obesity, physical fitness, self-esteem, and family functioning in several studies. The distinguishing features of SOFT are the focus on family interactions as an important source for implementing and maintaining lifestyle changes, the multidisciplinary team approach, and a limited number of sessions (three to four per year). The main aim of this paper is to provide tools for clinicians in the field of obesity who work with families, alone or in a multidisciplinary team.

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Section: Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Intervene With Questions (Observe-analyze-intervene)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Be Neutralmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Soft Compared To Other Treatment Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Family therapy as a model for treating childhood obesity: Useful tools for clinicians

Nowicka

Flodmark

2010

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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“…Indeed, it constitutes a virtuous approach to any patient, or for that matter, to any fellow human being. The five maxims are reminiscent of the stance of curiosity and neutrality (i.e., as neutral as our own values and beliefs allow) that is basic to therapeutic approaches based on systems theory (Cecchin, 1987;Selvini et al 1980). This stance has been put to good use in various brands of family therapy (Barker, 1992;Boscolo et al 1987;Campbell and Draper, 1985).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Injury: Symbolic Sacrifice/Self-Assertion Renders Clinicians Helpless

Krüger¹

2003

ppp

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Keywords:Potter's paper starts by situating self-injury in a broader discourse of body modifications. In this discourse the body is being used as a text, a tool to communicate meaning. The meaning that is communicated might be difficult or impossible to articulate otherwise (by using words, for example).The meaning of the communication is embedded in a context of social, cultural, religious, political, and other norms. Potter explores possible interpretations of the meaning of self-injury in women with BPD, including an interpretation of self-injury as symbolic sacrifice. She suggests that a cultural understanding/nonunderstanding of the meaning of a particular instance of self-injury is an important determinant of whether such self-injury is considered pathological/nonpathological. She then shifts the focus to the present-day culture in which women's bodies are commodified and objectified, and feminism, iconic communication, moral conflict, oppression, psychiatrist/psychologist roles, social norms Potter's paper considers self-injury in women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) to be a form of body modification where the body is used to communicate meaning. She touches on symbolism as a possible explanatory theory for this sort of self-injury. She also refers to the culture of body commodification as underlying self-injury. She then argues that clinicians have a duty to give uptake to the patient's own interpretations about the meaning of the self-injury. Giving uptake is a virtuous approach for ethical interactions with people diagnosed with BPD who self-injure, and it aims to preserve the communicator's integrity, along with other benefits. Potter offers five maxims for giving uptake properly. However, I shall argue that giving uptake can be very difficult for clinicians, and that an appreciation of this difficulty depends on an expansion and linkage of some of the theories that she touched on. Self-injury is revisited experimentally as a double-edged sword of symbolic sacrifice and iconic-symbolic self-assertion. This revisiting aims to illustrate how clinicians might be caught in a double bind, where giving uptake properly might be very difficult if not more or less doomed to fail.

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Intervening with school problems: A family systems perspective

Fine¹,

Holt²

1983

Psychol. Schs.

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Viewing children's behavior from a systems perspective allows the school-based consultant an expanded perception of the contextual function of the behavior. The two key systems in a child's life, home and school, often overlap, and what occurs in one system can affect the child's behavior in the other system. By considering the relationships of the child to both home and school, a more holistic view of the child is obtained, and greater opportunity for family involvement is provided. This article explains the differences between systemic and linear approaches to behavior, and provides examples of how the school-based consultant can intervene from a systems perspective, using interviews, short-term family counseling, and teacher consultation. Issues and cautions about using a systemic approach are presented, and the need for data-based research is explored.This paper proposes to examine the therapeutic intervention from a family systems perspective, highlighting a number of issues related to this approach with specific implications for school-based mental health consultants. The literature on children's school problems has recognized the importance of family variables. Indeed, there seems to have been an increase in parents being actively involved in intervention efforts with their children, likely in part because of the requirements of Public Law 94-142. But how parents can be involved productively is still a matter of some debate (Kaufman, 1980). SYSTEMIC vs. LINEAR THINKINGThe traditional models used by school-based professionals to understand the behavior of children have tended to be linear in nature. These models, most commonly psychodynamic, phenomenological, and behavioral, typically project "straight line" thinking regarding behavior even while considering a number of facets of the problem situation. For example, a child's aggressive acting-out might be viewed psychodynamically as a reflection of poor impulse control coupled with hostility toward women (i.e., the teacher). Or the child's behavior could be understood from a behavioral viewpoint as being caused and maintained by reinforcing consequent events. From a phenomenological position, we might think in terms of the child having a poor.selfconcept, perceiving others as threatening, and believing that an aggressive response is required for self-protection. Parents and families could certainly be involved in relation to these positions. From a behavioral perspective, we would look at home contingencies for "good" behavior and how consistently the parents apply those contingencies. Psychodynamically, we would look to underlying parent-child issues (for example, of an oedipal nature), or for some personality development problems. From a phenomenological or self-theory posture, we would be concerned with the building of self-esteem at home through positive success experiences.Each of these positions is valid, given the logic of the frame of reference; but from a systems viewpoint, each would miss understanding the child's behavior in the most potentially ...

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Hypothesizing — Circularity — Neutrality: Three Guidelines for the Conductor of the Session

Cited by 704 publications

References 3 publications

Family therapy as a model for treating childhood obesity: Useful tools for clinicians

Family therapy as a model for treating childhood obesity: Useful tools for clinicians

Self-Injury: Symbolic Sacrifice/Self-Assertion Renders Clinicians Helpless

Intervening with school problems: A family systems perspective

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