Growth for couples, families, groups and organizations

Transcript

SoheeA family comes in because their fourteen-year-old son keeps breaking curfew. In the first session, the therapist notices something. Every time Dad sets a rule, Mom quietly tells the boy it doesn't really matter.

RyanAnd suddenly the problem isn't only the boy. It's the shape of the whole family. Welcome to EPPP Prep, the podcast. I'm Ryan.

SoheeI'm Sohee. Today's knowledge statement is interventions to enhance growth and performance of individuals, couples, families, groups, systems, and organizations. It's a wide one. So we'll move from the family room, to the therapy group, to the office.

RyanStart with families. The OpenStax psychology textbook calls family therapy a special form of group therapy, consisting of one or more families. And it says one of the most predominant orientations is the systems approach.

SoheeThe family is viewed as an organized system. Each member is a contributing member who creates and maintains processes that shape behavior. Each member influences and is influenced by the others.

RyanAnd here's the line that makes this a growth topic. The goal of the systems approach is to enhance the growth of each family member, as well as that of the family as a whole.

SoheeTwo named types of family therapy show up on exams. Structural family therapy. The therapist examines and discusses the boundaries and structure of the family: who makes the rules, who sleeps in the bed with whom, how decisions are made.

RyanAnd the textbook's example is our curfew family. In some families, the parents don't work together to make rules, or one parent undermines the other, which leads the children to act out. The therapist helps them resolve it and communicate more effectively.

SoheeThen strategic family therapy. The goal is to address specific problems within the family that can be dealt with in a relatively short time. The therapist typically guides what happens in the session and designs a detailed approach to each member's problem.

RyanSo the distinction: structural looks at the architecture, the boundaries and structure. Strategic is problem-focused, shorter, and therapist-directed. If a question stresses boundaries and who's in charge, think structural. If it stresses a designed plan for a specific problem in a short time, think strategic.

SoheeCouples next. The textbook says couples therapy involves two people in an intimate relationship who are having difficulties and trying to resolve them. Dating, partnered, engaged, or married.

RyanAnd it names the primary therapeutic orientation in couples counseling as cognitive-behavioral therapy. The therapist helps the couple see how their backgrounds, beliefs, and actions affect the relationship, and teaches strategies like how to listen, how to argue, and how to express feelings.

SoheeAnd an honest note. Sometimes, after working with a therapist, a couple realizes they're too incompatible and decides to separate. Some couples come to work things out, others to decide whether staying together is best.

RyanSo a good outcome in couples work isn't always staying together. That's a nuance worth carrying into a vignette.

SoheeNow groups. In group therapy, usually five to ten people with a similar problem meet with a trained clinician.

RyanThe benefits the textbook lists. Group therapy can decrease a client's shame and isolation while offering support, from the therapist and from other members. Members can confront each other about their patterns. And for some problems, such as treatment for sexual abusers, the textbook adds that group treatment is more economical than individual, couples, or family therapy.

SoheeAnd its limits. Members may be afraid to speak in front of strangers. There may be personality clashes. And there are confidentiality concerns, since someone in the group might share what another person said outside.

RyanGroups come in many forms. Psycho-educational groups have a strong educational component, like a group for children whose parents have cancer. Some groups are time-limited, some have open membership, some are closed. Some are structured with planned activities, others unstructured.

SoheeAnd the textbook says unstructured groups can become complex and emotionally charged, but they're also an opportunity for personal growth.

RyanPause and think. A therapist sees the whole family and focuses on rebuilding the parents as a team, with clear rules and a clear hierarchy. Another therapist designs a short, step-by-step plan targeting one specific behavior, and directs each session. Which is which?

SoheeThe first is structural family therapy, focused on boundaries and structure. The second is strategic family therapy, problem-focused, short-term, therapist-guided.

RyanNow growth for individuals who aren't necessarily in treatment at all. Positive psychology. The textbook says that in 1998 Martin Seligman, then president of the American Psychological Association, urged psychologists to focus more on building human strength and psychological well-being.

SoheeIt describes positive psychology as the scientific study of what helps people lead happy, contented lives, moving away from focusing only on pathology, faults, and problems.

RyanDo positive psychology interventions work? A meta-analysis by Linda Bolier and colleagues in BMC Public Health looked at thirty-nine studies with 6,139 participants. Self-help, group training, and individual therapy.

SoheeThe standardized mean differences were 0.34 for subjective well-being, 0.20 for psychological well-being, and 0.23 for depression. They call those small effects.

RyanAt three to six months, the effects were still small but significant for well-being, so fairly sustainable. Interventions worked better on depression when they lasted longer, were delivered individually, and reached people with specific psychosocial problems.

SoheeAnd the qualifiers: heterogeneity was rather high, there were indications of publication bias, and study quality varied considerably. So: promising, small, needs better studies.

RyanThe textbook also describes flow, from Csikszentmihalyi. An experience so engaging that it becomes worth doing for its own sake. People lose themselves in the activity, keep focus effortlessly, and time seems to pass quickly. It usually happens in challenging activities that use skills people know they have.

SoheeNow organizations. Douglas McGregor, in 1960, described two management styles, Theory X and Theory Y.

RyanTheory X managers assume most people dislike work, avoid responsibility, and want to be told what to do. Goals are achieved through rules and punishments.

SoheeTheory Y managers assume people enjoy work, are more satisfied with responsibility, and want to help set their own goals. Goals are achieved through enticements and rewards. The textbook's example is Toyota's policy letting any employee stop the entire production line to fix a defect.

RyanAnd McGregor argued a Theory Y approach was needed to improve both organizational output and individual well-being.

SoheeLeadership. Bass, in 1985, popularized the contrast between transactional and transformational leadership. Transactional leaders focus on supervision and goals achieved through rewards and punishments. They maintain the status quo.

RyanTransformational leaders have four attributes to varying degrees. Charismatic, meaning highly liked role models. Inspirational, optimistic about reaching goals. Intellectually stimulating, encouraging critical thinking. And considerate.

SoheeThe textbook says research shows transformational approaches are more effective than transactional ones, although individual leaders typically show elements of both.

RyanDonald Clifton's strengths-based management focuses on people's strengths rather than weaknesses. But here's the honest note: the textbook says its effect on organizational performance is not well studied. And one study found managers often neglected their weaknesses and overused their strengths, both of which hurt performance.

SoheeMentoring. A review of mentoring studies, by Eby and colleagues, found significant but small effects of mentoring on protégés' performance, motivation, satisfaction, and career outcomes. And mentoring is described as particularly important to the career success of women.

RyanTeams. Many organizations delegate work to teams. But the textbook says team structures do not always deliver greater productivity. Teams can hide members who aren't working, which is social loafing. They can suffer poor communication, conformity effects, and conflict.

SoheePause and think. A company wants to reduce employees' work-family conflict. Options: flextime, telecommuting, or training supervisors to be supportive. What does the research the textbook cites suggest?

RyanSupportive supervisors. Lapierre and Allen found immediate-supervisor support significantly reduced work-family conflict. Flextime didn't help with coping, and telecommuting actually made things worse, perhaps because being home makes family demands more visible.

SoheeAnd at the whole-workplace level, CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says workplace health programs are more successful when they include both occupational safety and health efforts. Combined approaches are more effective than separate programs.

RyanRecap. Family systems therapy aims at growth for each member and the family as a whole. Structural therapy works on boundaries and structure. Strategic therapy designs short, specific plans, guided by the therapist.

SoheeCouples work is mainly cognitive-behavioral in orientation, teaching listening, arguing, and expressing feelings. Groups reduce shame and isolation, can cost less for some problems, and carry confidentiality and conflict risks.

RyanPositive psychology interventions show small but fairly lasting effects, with quality caveats. Flow is deep, rewarding engagement.

SoheeTheory Y over Theory X, transformational over transactional, mentoring with small but real benefits, teams that don't automatically outperform, and supervisor support for work-family conflict.

RyanAnd here's a small growth intervention for you. Find something in your study plan that gives you a bit of flow. A topic you like, a practice set that challenges you at the right level. Start your next session there.

SoheeThanks for listening to EPPP Prep.

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