Milan Systemic

A Learning Process

Milan Family Therapists viewed the use of interventions as nothing more than a learning process in which the therapist tests hypotheses and interventions through trial and error as they learn about the family

Positive Connotation

The Hallmark of the early Milan Systemic School. Illuminates upon circularity by assigning a positive motive or value to each family member's behavior- whether it be a desirable or undesirable behavior

The Invariant Prescription

Typically during the third session, the therapists will instruct the mother and father to tell their family that they have a "secret" and to then take a trip together, away from the family, for a few days. They are cautioned not to tell the family anything more than the mere fact that they have a secret prior to leaving.

Games

Unacknowledged strategies that result in destructive interactions within families- often, unspoken and used as attempts to control another's behavior

Analogical Message

a metaphorical or symbolic message (Process)

Epistemological error

a set of beliefs that are incongruent with reality and become problematic, such as not believing that one is responsible for his or her own behaviors

Team Approach

a team of therapists that strategically hypothesize and plan interventions regarding each particular family. Often, team members will watch therapy as it unfolds behind a one-way mirror as one or two therapist work directly with the family

Rituals

an intervention presented by a therapy team that is described in great detail, instructing various individuals within the family to carry out specific behaviors at specific times of the day for a distinct period of time. They serve to provide consistency and clarity as to the hypothesized problem with the family.

Counterparadox

an intervention used to unravel a family's double-bind message by referring to their dysfunction as legitimate and necessary, and as so, instructing the family not to change

Hypothesizing

continual process of conceptualizing the nature of the family's behavior that guide questioning and interventions

Paradoxical prescription

either prescribing the symptom or asking the family not to change

Digital Message

the content of the message (objective)

Epistemology

the manner in which individuals (families) make sense of the world, including their relationships to and with others

Punctuation

the manner in which individuals attribute their behaviors as a result of another's behavior. For example, I only nag you cause you never offer to help

Circular Questioning

the therapist asks one family member to comment on the interactions of two other family members to create circularity within the system and help the therapist build a more elaborate hypothesis

Neutrality & Irreverence

the therapist's stance of being open to multiple hypotheses regarding the family's behavior

The Dirty Game

when parents struggle for control, they triangulate a symptomatic child who then works to defeat the parents