Filial therapy

Last updated

Filial therapy is a type of psychotherapy designed to treat emotional and behavioral difficulties in children; it was formulated by Bernard Gurney in 1964. [1] It is based on the principles of play therapy; [2] [3] however, it is distinct from it, in that it teaches parents (or other paraprofessionals) how to provide therapeutic interventions for children. With respect to older children, filial therapy uses techniques that are adapted to age-appropriate interests and activities. [1]

Contents

Therapeutic mechanism

Although the exact mechanism by which therapeutic gains occur through the use of filial therapy is not definitively known, several hypotheses have been formulated to explain its positive effects. Many hypotheses hold that therapeutic gains are due to the same factors that make play therapy efficacious. Other hypotheses suggest that benefits from filial therapy may also stem from parental skill acquisition, a sense of parental self-efficacy, decreases in negative parent-child interactions, and an increase in positive parent-child interactions. [1]

Empirical support

Filial therapy is supported by clinical studies and meta-analyses. [4] [5] Some research suggests that under certain conditions, filial therapy can have a greater therapeutic impact than play therapy. [6] [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychotherapy</span> Clinically applied psychology for desired behavior change

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parenting</span> Process of raising a child

Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and cognitive development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biological relationship.

Antisocial behaviours are actions which are considered to violate the rights of others by committing crime or nuisance, such as stealing and physical attack or noncriminal behaviours such as lying and manipulation. It is considered to be disruptive to others in society. This can be carried out in various ways, which includes, but is not limited to, intentional aggression, as well as covert and overt hostility. Anti-social behaviour also develops through social interaction within the family and community. It continuously affects a child's temperament, cognitive ability and their involvement with negative peers, dramatically affecting children's cooperative problem-solving skills. Many people also label behaviour which is deemed contrary to prevailing norms for social conduct as anti-social behaviour. However, researchers have stated that it is a difficult term to define, particularly in the United Kingdom where many acts fall into its category. The term is especially used in British English.

Parental alienation is a theorized process through which a child becomes estranged from one parent as the result of the psychological manipulation of another parent. The child's estrangement may manifest itself as fear, disrespect or hostility toward the distant parent, and may extend to additional relatives or parties. The child's estrangement is disproportionate to any acts or conduct attributable to the alienated parent. Parental alienation can occur in any family unit, but is claimed to occur most often within the context of family separation, particularly when legal proceedings are involved, although the participation of professionals such as lawyers, judges and psychologists may also contribute to conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attachment theory</span> Psychological ethological theory about human relationships

Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans. The most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal social and emotional development. The theory was formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby.

A behavior modification facility is a residential educational and treatment institution enrolling adolescents who are perceived as displaying antisocial behavior, in an attempt to alter their conduct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Play therapy</span> Childrens mental health therapy method

Play therapy refers to a range of methods of capitalising on children's natural urge to explore and harnessing it to meet and respond to the developmental and later also their mental health needs. It is also used for forensic or psychological assessment purposes where the individual is too young or too traumatised to give a verbal account of adverse, abusive or potentially criminal circumstances in their life.

Emotion dysregulation is a range of emotional responses that do not lie within a desirable scope of emotive response, considering the stimuli.

Child psychotherapy, or mental health interventions for children refers to the psychological treatment of various mental disorders diagnosed in children and adolescents. The therapeutic techniques developed for younger age ranges specialize in prioritizing the relationship between the child and the therapist. The goal of maintaining positive therapist-client relationships is typically achieved using therapeutic conversations and can take place with the client alone, or through engagement with family members.

Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, witnessing abuse of a sibling or parent, or having a mentally ill parent. These events have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts and can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being such as unsocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Similarly, children whose mothers have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy have an increased risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Meta-emotion is "an organized and structured set of emotions and cognitions about the emotions, both one's own emotions and the emotions of others". This broad definition of meta-emotion sparked psychologists' interest in the topic, particularly regarding parental meta-emotion philosophy.

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) is an intervention developed by Sheila Eyberg (1988) to treat children between ages 2 and 7 with disruptive behavior problems. PCIT is an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for young children with behavioral and emotional disorders that places emphasis on improving the quality of the parent-child relationship and changing parent-child interaction patterns.

Emotionally focused therapy and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) are a family of related approaches to psychotherapy with individuals, couples, or families. EFT approaches include elements of experiential therapy, systemic therapy, and attachment theory. EFT is usually a short-term treatment. EFT approaches are based on the premise that human emotions are connected to human needs, and therefore emotions have an innately adaptive potential that, if activated and worked through, can help people change problematic emotional states and interpersonal relationships. Emotion-focused therapy for individuals was originally known as process-experiential therapy, and it is still sometimes called by that name.

Virginia Mae Axline was a psychologist and one of the pioneers in the use of play therapy. She wrote the book Dibs in Search of Self. She was also the author of Play Therapy, published in 1947.

Attachment-based therapy applies to interventions or approaches based on attachment theory, originated by John Bowlby. These range from individual therapeutic approaches to public health programs to interventions specifically designed for foster carers. Although attachment theory has become a major scientific theory of socioemotional development with one of the broadest, deepest research lines in modern psychology, attachment theory has, until recently, been less clinically applied than theories with far less empirical support. This may be partly due to lack of attention paid to clinical application by Bowlby himself and partly due to broader meanings of the word 'attachment' used amongst practitioners. It may also be partly due to the mistaken association of attachment theory with the pseudo-scientific interventions misleadingly known as attachment therapy. The approaches set out below are examples of recent clinical applications of attachment theory by mainstream attachment theorists and clinicians and are aimed at infants or children who have developed or are at risk of developing less desirable, insecure attachment styles or an attachment disorder.

Common factors theory, a theory guiding some research in clinical psychology and counseling psychology, proposes that different approaches and evidence-based practices in psychotherapy and counseling share common factors that account for much of the effectiveness of a psychological treatment. This is in contrast to the view that the effectiveness of psychotherapy and counseling is best explained by specific or unique factors that are suited to treatment of particular problems.

Triple P is a parenting intervention with the main goals of increasing the knowledge, skills, and confidence of parents and reducing the prevalence of mental health, emotional, and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. The program was originally specifically tailored for at risk children and parents, but there are now different levels of Triple P designed to work together as a broad, universal, public health approach. This program is based on principles of community psychology.

Psychodynamic Therapy with Infants and Parents aims to relieve emotional disturbances within the parent(s), the baby, and/or their interaction, for example, postnatal depression and anxiety, infant distress with breastfeeding and sleep, and attachment disorders. It rests on attachment theory and psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud suggested that a modification of his method could be applied to children, and child analysis was introduced in the 1920s by [Anna Freud].., [Melanie Klein], and Hermine Hug von Hellmuth. Klein speculated on infantile experiences to understand her patients' disorders but she did not practice PTIP. Donald Winnicott, a pediatrician and analyst, focused on the mother-baby interplay in his theorizing and his brief parent-child consultations, but he did not work with PTIP.

Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Theory, is authored by Ronald P. Rohner at the University of Connecticut. IPARTheory, is an evidence-based theory of socialization and lifespan development that attempts to describe, predict, and explain major consequences and correlates of interpersonal acceptance and rejection in multiple types of relationships worldwide. It was previously known as Parental Acceptance-Rejection Theory (PARTheory). IPARTheory has more than six decades of research behind it, therefore in 2014 the name was changed to IPARTheory because the central postulates of the theory generalize to all important relationships throughout the lifespan.

Attachment Play is a term created by developmental psychologist, Aletha Solter and the title of one of her books. It is one aspect of her Aware Parenting approach. The term refers to nine specific kinds of parent/child play that can strengthen attachment, solve behavior problems, and help children recover from traumatic experiences. These forms of play incorporate many traditional play therapy techniques as well as some newer ones.

References

  1. 1 2 3 VanFleet, Rise. Filial Therapy. Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press.
  2. Axline, Virginia (1974). Play Therapy . New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN   9780345243157.
  3. Axline, Virginia (1964). Dibs In Search of Self . New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN   9780345292698.
  4. Marziyeh Alivandi Vafa, Khaidzir Hj. Ismail (February 2009). "Reaching out to single parent children through filial therapy". US-China Education Review. 6: 1–12.
  5. Guo, Y (2005). "Filial therapy for children's behavioral and emotional problems in mainland China". Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. 18 (4): 171–180. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6171.2005.00028.x. PMID   16236099. S2CID   40909185.
  6. Bratton, S., Ray, D., Rhine, T., & Jones, L. (August 2005). "The efficacy of play therapy with children: A meta-analytic review of the outcome research". Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 36 (4): 376–390. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.472.68 . doi:10.1037/0735-7028.36.4.376. S2CID   28386012.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Ray,D, Bratton, S, Rhine, T, and Jones, L. (2001). "The effectiveness of play therapy: Responding to the critics". International Journal of Play Therapy. 10 (1): 85–108. doi:10.1037/h0089444.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)