Brief Strategic Family Therapy
Brief strategic family therapy involves the a vital part of recovering from addiction. Since many of drug addiction and substance abuse can be traced back to the patient’s family relationships, the best forms of therapy involve the patient’s family members. In this regard, one of the most effective forms of alcohol intervention involving family members is Brief Strategic Family Therapy.
What is Brief Strategic Family Therapy?
Brief Strategic Family Therapy is a form of therapy that is structured, culturally sensitive, problem focused, practical and most of all family-centered. It is an evidence-based rehab program, especially suitable for women addicts or alcoholics since the whole family is involved in the recovery process.
The BSFT provided in New Creation Treatment center is a prime example of this type of therapy. It is a pragmatic approach to treating addiction, alcoholism, behavioral problems and related problematic family relations. It is also effective in treating conduct problems of wayward adolescents.
“Imbalanced systems, whether internal or external, will tend to polarize.”
― Richard C. Schwartz, Internal Family Systems Therapy
Why It Is Effective in Recovering Addicts
BSFT’s effectiveness lies in the fact that it utilizes the help of the family by providing family members the tools to hurdle family risk factors and individual issues. This is done through:
- Building skills to strengthen the family structure. This form of therapy relies heavily on the help of family members; therefore, they are required to be present in the therapy sessions. An effort is made by the therapist to engage the family and bring them into therapy.
- Focused interventions so that problematic behavioral patterns of the patient with regards to family interactions will be addressed directly and resolved.
Brief Strategic Family Therapy tries to resolve not only the negative behavioral patterns of the addict but also addresses the way each family member reacts to one another with regards to a specific problem.
That is why the addiction therapist will work with all family members and not just the patient so that the interactional patterns which caused the patient’s issues will be identified and brought to light. As soon as the problematic patterns are identified, the therapist will start to help the whole family change these behavioral patterns so that the family will start to develop beneficial family interactions.
BSFT Strategies
Getting the family to open up is a difficult task. But BSFT has developed effective strategies to bring the family together in therapy. These strategies include:
- Joining – where the therapist forms a therapeutic alliance with all the members of the family
- Restructuring – where the therapist changes family interactions, which are directly causing the problematic behavior of the patient
- Diagnosis – where the therapist identifies the root causes of the mental health or addiction problem
The family crucible must have a shape, a form, a discipline of sorts, and the therapist has to provide it.
“The family has to know whether we can provide it, and so they test us.”
― Augustus Y. Napier, The Family Crucible
What to Expect
When you choose to undergo BSFT at New Creation Treatment, be prepared to follow these steps:
- The organization of a counselor-family team – This is the therapeutic alliance that is vital to the success of the recovery process. The alliance is made by the therapist with each family member, and the whole family as a group.
- The diagnosis of the family’s strength and dysfunctional relationships – The therapist’s diagnosis will focus on the problematic relationships that support the addiction. It will also identify their impact on the patient’s behavior and the parent’s ability in correcting inappropriate responses.
- The development of the right treatment strategy – Based on the diagnosis, the therapist will formulate a program of treatment that capitalizes on the strength of the family and directed specifically towards solving the problem.
- The implementation of change strategies – The family will be asked to implement change strategies that may include shifts in interpersonal boundaries and alliances, developing skills in resolving issues, coaching and guiding the parents, and so forth.
Approaches to Christian drug and alcohol rehab are considerably facilitated if your family undergoes Brief Strategic Family Therapy. This is only for a short period of time, and yet the results are amazing.