How to Coach Yourself and Others Coaching Families | Page 54

Chapter 3 - Diagnosing Family System Problems
The BSFT approach to assessing and diagnosing family system problems differs drastically from that used
by other kinds of psychotherapies. Unlike other psychotherapies that assess and diagnose by focusing on
content, such as talking about a family's history, BSFT assesses and diagnoses by identifying the current
family process. BSFT focuses on the nature and characteristics of the interactions that occur in the family
and either help or hinder the family's attempts to get rid of the adolescent's problem behaviors.
The following six elements of the family's interactions are examined in detail:
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Organization
Resonance
Developmental stages
Life context
Identified patient
Conflict resolution
Organization

As repetitive patterns of interaction in a family occur over time, they give the family a specific form, or
"organization." Three aspects of this organization are examined below: leadership, subsystem organization,
and communication flow.
Leadership
Leadership is defined as the distribution of authority and responsibility within the family. In functional twoparent families, leadership is in the hands of the parents. In modern societies, both parents usually share
authority and decisionmaking. Frequently, in one-parent families, the parent shares some of the leadership
with an older child. The latter situation has the potential for creating problems. In the case of a single parent
living within an extended family framework, leadership may be shared with an uncle, aunt, or grandparent.
In assessing whether leadership is adaptive, BSFT counselors look at hierarchy, behavior control, and
guidance.
Counselors look at the hierarchy, or the way a family is ranked, to see who is in charge of leading the family
and who holds the family's positions of authority. BSFT assumes that the leadership should be with the
parent figures, with supporting roles assigned to older family members. Some leadership responsibilities can
be delegated to older children, as long as those responsibilities are not overly burdensome, are ageappropriate, and are delegated by parent figures rather than usurped by the children. BSFT counselors look
at behavior control in the family to see who, if anyone, keeps order and doles out discipline in the family.
Effective behavior control typically means that the parents are in charge and the children are acting in
accordance with parental rules. Guidance refers to the teaching and mentoring functions in the family. BSFT
assesses whether these roles are filled by appropriate family members and whether the youngsters' needs for
guidance are being met.
Subsystem Organization
Families have both formal subsystems (e.g., spouses, siblings, grandparents, etc.) and informal subsystems
(e.g., the older women, the people who manage the money, the people who do the housekeeping, the people
who play chess). Important subsystems must have a certain degree of privacy and independence. BSFT
looks at issues such as the adequacy or appropriateness of the subsystems in a family. It also assesses the
nature of the relationships that give rise to these subsystems and especially looks at subsystem membership,
triangulation, and communication flow, which are discussed below.
Subsystem Membership
BSFT identifies the family's subsystems, which are small groups within the family that are composed of
family members with shared characteristics, such as age, gender, role, interests, or abilities. BSFT
counselors pay particular attention to the appropriateness of each subsystem's membership and to the
boundaries between subsystems. For example, parent figures should form a subsystem, while siblings of
similar ages should also form a subsystem, and each of these subsystems should be separate from the others.

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