What Is Strategic Family Therapy?

Strategic family therapy is based on the premise that the family plays the most important role in the life and development of children. This type of therapy seeks to identify and change the structural interaction patterns that make up the family environment. By addressing family behaviors and interactions that contribute to problem behavior, this approach helps families function better so that kids can overcome issues they are experiencing.

This article discusses how strategic family therapy works, its uses, and its efficacy. It also covers how to get started if you think this approach could be helpful for your family.

Types of Strategic Family Therapy

Brief strategic family therapy is a short-term model that typically takes place over 12 sessions. It is often used to address specific behavioral problems such as delinquency, drug use, and high-risk sexual behavior.

Related types of therapy that also focus on treating families include family systems therapy, functional family therapy, and structural family therapy. 

Techniques of Strategic Family Therapy

SFT is individualized and tailored to each family's unique situation. Some of the techniques that a therapist may draw on as they coach families through interactions designed to produce change are listed below.

Joining

The first step involves creating a therapeutic alliance with the family. This relationship involves mutual respect and consideration that helps the family feel that the therapist is on their side.

It allows the therapist to temporarily gain acceptance into the family unit so that they can better understand the family's experiences, relationships, and interactions.

Tracking and Diagnosing

Once a therapeutic relationship has been established, the therapist will then work to learn more about the family's behavior patterns and problems. In doing so, they can identify strengths and weaknesses that will allow them to develop a treatment plan.

Restructuring

This technique involves applying different strategies to help address the problems with behaviors and relationships that are contributing to behavioral issues. This might involve utilizing a variety of techniques centered around behavior management, communication, parenting skills, and conflict resolution.

The goal of restructuring is to help promote more productive, constructive interactions that then motivate people to change.

What Strategic Family Therapy Can Help With

Strategic family therapy can be helpful for:

• Aggressive behaviors
• Conduct problems
• Delinquency
• Noncompliance
• Substance use problems
• Risky sexual behavior
• Violent behavior

This approach is often used in situations where young people have come into the juvenile justice system due to drug use, delinquency, or violent behaviors. It can be helpful for improving family functioning, increasing positive parental interactions and parental involvement, strengthening peer relationships, and improving prosocial behaviors.

Benefits of Strategic Family Therapy

Strategic family therapy can benefit families in a number of different ways. Some of the key benefits of this type of therapy are that it: 

• Improves communication between family members
• Helps form, strengthen, or enforce healthy boundaries
• Improves positive parenting
• Strengthens conflict resolution skills
• Builds family cohesion

The basic premise of strategic family therapy is that how the family functions and interacts plays a pivotal role in a child's symptoms. By changing how the family functions, this treatment reduces the risk factors that contribute to behavior problems and helps protect kids from future issues that may arise. 

Flexibility is another important benefit of structural family therapy. Because it is adaptable, it can be utilized in a broad variety of family situations including single-parent households, multigenerational households, and stepfamilies. 

Strategic family therapy can help people from a range of different backgrounds when practiced by a culturally-sensitive therapist. 

Effectiveness

Evidence suggests that strategic family therapy can be effective in treating teens who are experiencing substance use, mental health conditions, and other difficulties.

• One clinical trial found that a Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) improved family engagement and retention. It also improved parent-reported family functioning. However, there were no significant differences in self-reported adolescent drug use between the BSFT group and the treatment-as-usual group.
• Another study found that teens who had mental health problems exhibited fewer internalizing and externalizing symptoms after treatment with strategic family therapy. In post-therapy interviews, parents also reported feeling more effective as parents and engaged in more authoritative parenting practices as opposed to permissive or authoritarian ones. 

Things to Consider

While strategic family therapy can be beneficial and effective, it is important to recognize that there may also be some challenges. While strategic family therapy can be helpful in many cases, it is not always the right choice for every problem or issue.

Participation

It is important for family members to participate in the treatment process. One problem, however, is that the same dynamics that play a part in contributing to behavior problems can often interfere with families working together to get help. It is not uncommon for some family members to be less cooperative or to refuse to attend therapy sessions altogether.

Resistance

How people come into treatment may also have an impact on participation and outcomes. Teens are often referred to strategic family therapy through the criminal justice system. Researchers suggest that those entering treatment often feel hopeless and blame others, including family members, for their problems. This can make initiating and maintaining treatment more challenging.

Difficult Emotions

It is also important to recognize that the treatment process involves talking in-depth about emotional problems, conflicts, and difficult relationships. This can be upsetting for many people and it isn't uncommon to go through a period of feeling worse before the situation improves. Because of this, it is important to work with a skilled professional who can help members of the family deal with strong or difficult emotions.

How to Get Started

The brief form of strategic family therapy is typically short-term, lasting a period of approximately 12 weeks. However, it may also last longer depending on a family's needs and the problems that are being treated. 

It may involve all members of the family, but in some cases, it may involve those who are able or willing to take part in treatment.

If you think this type of treatment would be helpful for your family, you can start by asking your healthcare provider for a referral to a professional in your area. You may also be referred to a therapist through a social worker or a school counselor.

Once you find a potential therapist, ask them about their background, experience, and approach to treatment. Therapists who offer this type of treatment often have a master's or doctorate degree in a field such as psychology, social work, counseling, or marriage and family therapy.