Family versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Social problems can be solved by using various model depending on the effects on the victims. The following study compares the efficiency of family and cognitive behavioral therapies in addressing the social challenge at Egan’s family. In family therapy, the objective is to have everyone acknowledge that a problem exists and then work towards increasing family communication to deal with the problem together (Bitter, 2013). When faced with circular causality, then finding the cause of the problem becomes very difficult and tends to amplify the issue further. In such cases, therapists will look at encouraging their patients to communicate openly with each other and thus, give more focus to finding a solution (Bitter, 2013). Looking at the Egan’s case, the family setup is disengaged because the members have been cut off from both via emotional and physical involvement. Evidently, with the extra shifts that Elisha has taken up in the hospital, they now share few activities together as a family thereby disengaging their relationship. John and Elisha are experiencing interpersonal boundaries that have become open and overlapping.
However, this has weakened John’s integrity as an individual forcing the family not to act autonomously. The enmeshed relationships have made John devote his time to the family while Elisha has sacrificed the family’s autonomy. Therefore, the disengagement and enmeshed family relationships presented in the Egan’s family suggests that the family is functioning poorly. Normally, enmeshed families are known to produce or maintain psychosomatic symptoms while a disengaged family limits or does not provide the mutual support and understanding that existed (Bitter, 2013). Often, disconnected families are known to compromise their system’s ability when adapting to structural changes and relationships. Such systems have contributed to Jane’s distress. This has heightened the frustration levels and that of other members of the family thereby predisposing her to illnesses.
CBT practitioners view the case differently because they are more aligned with having structure and sessions follow specific directions that may conflict with a client’s use of strategies thus preventing them from taking any course of action. Moreover, no space is provided for things like procrastination, being avoidant, blaming, and assurance seeking in therapy sessions (Graham & Reynolds, 2013). For the case presented, CBT targets the emotions of their clients through changing their behaviors and dysfunctional thoughts because they are a contribution to their distressing emotions. The parents of Jane seem to be unable to resolve their existing problem between them. Therefore, they have resorted to direct their focus of concern away from their predicament, themselves and are joining efforts to look at what is affecting their daughter, Jane. This approach is a triangulation because they identify the child as the patient.
In contrast, Circular Causality relates to behavior happening contextually and cyclically. For dualistic linear thinking, this is difficult because we live in a dynamic environment shaped present events (Graham & Reynolds, 2013). Cyclic Causality involves having a repeated pattern that requires feedback loops that can either be sequential and or simultaneous. The therapy has managed to understand the family and family systems by looking beyond linear causality models. In Linear Causality, the cause of a problem precedes the effect. It is a sequential pattern because it has a direct link between cause and effect. Moreover, most CBT therapists will be inclined to adapt because it has an explicit beginning and end as the effect of the problem is traceable to one cause (Graham & Reynolds, 2013). The couple decided to come into counseling to resolve their daughter’s issue, and their thinking is typically linear.


References
Bitter, J. B. (2013). Theory and Practice of Family Therapy and Counseling. New York, NY: Cengage Learning
Graham, P. & Reynolds, S. (2013). Cognitive behavior therapy for children and families. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press