Structural family therapy focuses on family interactions. The goal is to help you and your family system interact more effectively by focusing on current issues and developing conflict-resolution skills.

People go to family therapy for various reasons. Maybe there’s dysfunction in your family system, or you’re in a relationship and always argue. Many types of family and couples therapy are available to help you work through these problems.

One option for working through conflict and dysfunction is structural family therapy. This type of therapy can help identify patterns of dysfunction that lead to problems and replace them with healthier ways of interacting.

Psychotherapist Salvador Minuchin developed the structural approach to family to create a healthy but hierarchical family organization. According to 2019 research, structural family therapy views problems expressed by adolescents as the result of imbalance and as part of a dysfunctional hierarchy.

The imbalances and dysfunction can cause a lack of boundaries between parents, adolescents, and other members of the family system. When working through the structural approach in family therapy, clear boundaries must be established between parents and children.

According to 2022 research, Minuchin believed that the struggles that lead to conflict within families are often the result of a lack of strategies or ineffective strategies to manage or organize daily life. He also believed that conflict is caused by a lack of clearly defined rules or roles within the family system.

Structural family therapy builds on the client’s strengths and helps the family harness their strengths to solve problems.

Various techniques are used in structural family therapy, such as:

Observing family interaction

One intervention that a therapist may use is enactment. Research indicates that enactment is a technique where the therapist instructs family members to interact with each other rather than with the therapist.

The enactment intervention aims to explore and change how interactions occur with the family system. Enactments can help the therapist view interactions between:

The therapist can see firsthand how the system interacts rather than relying on the family’s self-report.

Focusing on concrete issues

According to research from 2019, developing skills that directly address the relationship between parents and the parent-child relationship can help therapists understand complex issues and challenges within the family.

Older research indicates that identifying concrete issues that brought the family to therapy can help the structural family therapist support the family in finding a solution.

Understand recent problems

An additional intervention or area of focus in structural family therapy is the “family’s location in the present.”

This intervention means that the problems currently causing the family distress and the dynamics that led to the family’s current issues are the focus of therapy.

Restructure power dynamics

The structural family therapist uses this intervention to examine the unhealthy dynamics and roles each person holds within a family system. They then work to restructure these roles and dynamics within the family to create healthier functioning.

Research highlights four main benefits of structural family therapy:

  • Reorganize and restructure the family system: The benefit of the reorganization is that family members have more clearly defined roles and, hopefully, healthier interactions in the family system.
  • Improve emotional connections among family members: Emotional connecting allows each member of the family system to understand each other on a deeper level and offer mutual support.
  • Identify and explore strengths and available resources: Focusing on strengths allows the family to solve problems together and helps each individual within the system grow and develop through healthy interactions.
  • Adaptability and flexibility: The therapist collaborates with the clients to help them find solutions. The therapist also considers the family’s culture and how that impacts problems and solutions.

When you attend structural family therapy for the first time, you may not know what to expect. In your first session, the therapist is trying to understand:

  • how you interact with your family
  • problems that exist within the family dynamics
  • the roles you all hold within your family system

The therapist will introduce themselves and their roles and explain how structural family therapy works. The therapist may review policies like confidentiality, no-show, or cancellation fees. If you’re going to family therapy for the first time, you may have a chance to ask questions about anything you don’t know the answer to.

After introductions and policies, the therapist will likely ask background questions to understand the presenting problem(s) better. In the assessment phase of structural family therapy, the therapist observes how the family interacts with each other.

Interacting with your family in front of the therapist gives the therapist valuable information. They may pay attention to:

After the assessment, the therapist will work with you to create goals for the rest of your therapy sessions. If you have any questions about therapy or the assessment process, you can ask your therapist at your first session.

Structural family therapy examines imbalances in roles, power, and the family structure. The main goal is to help clients find a new hierarchy within the family with clearly defined rules, roles, and boundaries. The structural family therapist also helps clients learn more effective ways of problem-solving.

If you want to find a Structural Family Therapist, you can use the FindCare tool to find therapists near you. Getting help can assist you and your family with living a healthier life.