Key Concepts
Family Rules
What are the explicit or implicit rules that govern family behavior?
An instruction given to change behavior
What is a directive?
Family communication patterns
What does the MRI approach focus on?
Power dynamics and hierarchy in families
What does the Family Therapy Institute focus on?
To reveal differences in family members’ perceptions
What is circular questioning used for?
Family Homeostasis
What is the family’s tendency to maintain its existing patterns and resist change?
Changing the way a problem is perceived to alter responses
What is reframing in therapy?
Prescribing the problem behavior to disrupt resistance
What is a paradoxical intervention?
Jay Haley and Cloé Madanes
Who are the founders of the Family Therapy Institute?
What does the Milan Institute emphasize in family therapy?
Systemic change and circular interactions
Quid Pro Quo
What term describes the mutual exchange of behavior in families, such as “something for something”?
A method where family members are asked to pretend problematic behavior to gain control over it
What is the pretend technique?