FAMILY THERAPY - DEAN AMORY

Why Brief Strategic Family Therapy?
The scientific literature describes various treatment approaches for adolescents with drug addictions,
including behavioral therapy, multisystemic therapy, and several family therapy approaches. Each of these
approaches has strengths.
BSFT's strengths include the following:
BSFT is an intervention that targets self-sustaining changes in the family environment of the
adolescent. That means that the treatment environment is built into the adolescent's daily family
life.
BSFT can be implemented in approximately 8 to 24 sessions. The number of sessions needed
depends on the severity of the problem.
BSFT has been extensively evaluated for more than 25 years and has been found to be efficacious
in treating adolescent drug abuse, conduct problems, associations with antisocial peers, and
impaired family functioning.
BSFT is "manualized," and training programs are available to certify BSFT counselors.
BSFT is a flexible approach that can be adapted to a broad range of family situations in a variety of
service settings (e.g., mental health clinics, drug abuse treatment programs, and other social service
settings) and in a variety of treatment modalities (e.g., as a primary outpatient intervention, in
combination with residential or day treatment, and as an aftercare/continuing-care service to
residential treatment).
BSFT appeals to cultural groups that emphasize family and interpersonal relationships.
What Are the Goals of Brief Strategic Family Therapy?
In BSFT, whenever possible, preserving the family is desirable. While family preservation is important,
two goals must be set: to eliminate or reduce the adolescent's use of drugs and associated problem
behaviors, known as "symptom focus," and to change the family interactions that are associated with the
adolescent's drug abuse, known as "system focus." An example of the latter occurs when families direct
their negative feelings toward the drug-abusing youth. The parents' negativity toward the adolescent directly
affects his or her drug abuse, and the adolescent's drug abuse increases the parents' negativity. At the family
systems level, the counselor intervenes to change the way family members act toward each other (i.e.,
patterns of interaction). This will prompt family members to speak and act in ways that promote more
positive family interaction, which, in turn, will make it possible for the adolescent to reduce his or her drug
abuse and other problematic behaviors.
What Are the Most Common Problems Facing the Family of a Drug-Abusing Adolescent?
The makeup and dynamics of the family are discussed in terms of the adolescent's symptoms and the
family's problems.
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