Family Therapy Glossary - Quiz #4

Front 1

Gender Roles

Back 1

A term describing socially prescribed roles which delineate different behaviors assumed appropriate for men and women.

Front 2

Gender Sensitivity

Back 2

A concept, developed by Lynn Hoffman, to recommend that the concern for gender issues become a significant part of the theory and practice of family therapy.

Front 3

General Systems Theory

Back 3

The theory, developed by physicist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, which first defined the relationship of objects, or individuals, within biologic, economic, or physical systems.

Front 4

Genogram

Back 4

A diagram of extended family relationships which includes at least three generations.

Front 5

Good Objects/Bad Objects

Back 5

Terms, which evolved from object relations theory and the psychiatric symptoms of the Borderline Personality Disorder, that describe for family therapists a process of emotional splitting...

Front 6

Hierarchy

Back 6

A concept from Structural Family Therapy which defines the way leadership and power is organized within family systems...

Front 7

Homeostasis

Back 7

A concept from systems theory that describes the dynamic state of a system where one or more variables are stable and balanced.

Front 8

Hypothesizing

Back 8

A clinical process in family systems assessment and treatment where available information on the family is used by the therapist to form an hypothesis regarding clinical issues...

Front 9

Identified Patient

Back 9

A term developed early in family therapy to designate the family member who displays the symptoms and for whom therapy has been sought.

Front 10

Incongruous Power Hierarchies

Back 10

A concpet which describes an ongoing imbalance of power in a marital dyad that generates a constant state of tension.

Front 11

Intergenerational Loyalties

Back 11

A concept, developed by Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, which describes a foundation of emotional commitments and obligations experienced by family members toward their families of origin.

Front 12

Interlocking Pathologies

Back 12

An early definition of the complex and multiple levels of clinical dynamics that occur within family systems.

Front 13

"I" Position

Back 13

A concpet from Family of Origin Therapy which refers to the ability of a family member to take a position based on the person's own thinking and self-identity...

Front 14

Isomorphism

Back 14

A concpet from systems theory that describes when certain structural aspects of one system match structural aspects of another system.

Front 15

Isomorphic Intervention

Back 15

A clinical intervention which addresses simultaneously problems at multiple systemic levels.

Front 16

Joining

Back 16

A clinical process from Structural Family Therapy which describes the therapist's role of entering and etablishing rapport with members of a family system.

Front 17

Linear Causality

Back 17

A concept from systems theory that describes a nonreciprocal relationship which exists between sequential events such that the intial event causes the second event but the second event does not reciprocally act upon the first event.

Front 18

Live Supervision

Back 18

A clinical education method, utilzed extensively in family therapy training, which enhances the learning potential for the student-therapist by utilizing immediate supervisory feedback during the process of the clincal interview.

Front 19

Managed Care

Back 19

A health care system in which third-party payers regulate and control the cost, quality, and terms of health care services, including family therapy treatment.

Front 20

Marital Contracts

Back 20

A concept, developed by Clifford Sager, that describe a set of expectations and promises, both conscious and unconscious, that each partner brings into the marriage.

Front 21

Mate Selection

Back 21

A process described in family theory by which an individual chooses a partner for marriage.

Front 22

Medical Family Therapy

Back 22

A clinical approach based on collaboration which physicians and other health care porfessionals in the treatment of family systems and their members.

Front 23

Metacommunication

Back 23

A concept that describes an implicit and often nonverbal message which addresses the intent of a verbal statement.

Front 24

Mimesis

Back 24

A form of accommodation and joining from Structural Family Therapy whereby the family therapist mirrors the family's style, tempo, and affect.

Front 25

Morphogenesis

Back 25

A concept from systems theory which describes the tendency of a system to evolve and to change its structure.

Front 26

Morphostasis

Back 26

A concept from systems theory which describes the tendency of a system to retain its basic organization.

Front 27

Multigenerational Transmission Process

Back 27

A concept utilized in a variety of family systems models to describe the transmission of certain roles, beliefs, values, myths, interactional behaviors, and structural patterns across multiple generations.

Front 28

Multiple Family Therapy

Back 28

A clinical method in which a variety of families, often up to five to six, are seen together in a joint group session to focus on presenting problems and family behaviors.

Front 29

Multiple Impact Therapy

Back 29

A clinical method using a team of family therapists who interview family members in varying combinations of subsystems over an intensive period of two to three days.

Front 30

Narrative Family Therapy

Back 30

A clinical model, developed by Michael White and David Epston, which focuses on helping family systems to develop positive and successful "life stories..."