Mapping in Structural Family Therapy

1 MMapping in Structural FamilyTherapyJorge ColapintoMinuchin Center for the Family ,Woodbury, NJ, USAI ntroductionMapping is the visual representation of a familyand of its members relationships with each otherand with the outside FrameworkMapping is a primary assessment technique usedin Structural Family for the Strategy orInterventionStructural Therapy poses that problematic behav-iors are embedded in a Family s relational representing those patterns on a diagramserves the dual purpose of identifying how prob-lems are maintained by the Family s dynamics andguiding the therapeutic draft of the Family map may be drawn onthe basis of the referral information. Who live inthe household? What are their genders and ages?How are they related to each other? This gives thetherapist a basic sense of the shape of the fam-ily: trigenerational, blended, single parent, one-child. The referral information may alsoinclude data on the larger system: individualsand organizations that are relevant for the Family ,such as extended Family , school, church, childprotection the therapistfirst meets the Family ,involving them in drawing up their own map hasthe additional value of helping with their engage-ment: Inviting Family members to place the peo-ple and write their names inside a circle promotesa recognition of their mutual belonging, an aware-ness that these are us.

2 (Minuchin et ,p. 45). The therapist also begins to developfirsthypotheses about the nature of the Family s rela-tional patterns, by observing how they interactduring the session and tracking how they interactat Family map indicates the position of familymembers vis- vis one another. It reveals coalitions,affiliations, explicit and implicit conflicts, and theways Family members group themselves in conflictresolution. It identifies Family members who oper-ate as detourers of conflict, and Family memberswho function as switchboards. The map charts thenurturers, healers, and scapegoaters. Its delineation#Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019J. L. Lebow et al. (eds.),Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy , the boundaries between subsystem indicateswhat movement there is and suggests possibleareas of strength or dysfunction. (Minuchin andFishman1981, p. 69) Structural therapists use symbols to representthese different relations in the Family map.

3 Forinstance:InvolvementUnderinvolvementO verinvolvementConflictCase ExampleA 12-year-old girl is being repeatedly suspendedfrom school due to herfighting with schoolmatesand disrespectful interactions with teachers. Thereferral indicates that she lives with her mother,stepfather, and one siblings. Her birth father livesout of state. The Family belongs to a draft of the Family map looks like this:BIRTH FATHER40 STEPFATHER40 CHURCHMOTHER38 SISTER16 SCHOOLIP14In thefirst meeting with the Family , the thera-pist learns that the 14-year-old girl is very close toher mother, has a distant relationship with both herbiological father and her stepfather, and quarrelsoften with her older FATHER40 STEPFATHER43 CHURCHMOTHER38 SISTER16 SCHOOLIP14 The therapist alsofinds out that the mother andstepfather often quarrel about how to raise thechildren, that the mother confronts the schoolabout what she sees as unfair treatment of herdaughter, and that not all the Family membersparticipate in the church, but only the FATHER40 STEPFATHER40 CHURCHMOTHER38 SISTER16 SCHOOLIP14 This map draws the therapist s attention to acouple of three-way relationships in which theidentified patient is involved.

4 One is the patternthat links her to her disagreeing (close) motherand (distant) stepfather, and the other is the con-flictive relationship that both she and her motherhave with the initial map just allows for a preliminaryorganization of the complex data presented by afamily. It does not represent the richness of fam-ily transactions any more than a map representsthe richness of a territory. It is static, whereas thefamily is constantly in motion (Minuchin1974,p. 90). As Therapy proceeds, the map is constantlyrevised and in Structural Family TherapyReferencesMinuchin, P., Colapinto, J., & Minuchin, S. (2007).Work-ing with families of the poor. New York: , S. (1974).Families and Family Therapy . Cam-bridge, MA: Harvard University , S., & Fishman, H. C. (1981). Family therapytechniques. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University in Structural Family Therapy3