About Virginia Satir - A Psychological Guru And His Family Therapy

Virginia Satir is a psychological guru who created a model that addressed family therapy that became one of the most used elements in modern therapy today. Family therapy utilizes the bases of human connection with the common household problems. The Satir Model: Yesterday and Today is a journal article that is written by John Banmen. This article addresses the outlook provided by Virginia Satir in a variety of steps that required initiating individual and family therapy. Banmen states that Satir is considered to be someone who developed certain techniques’ in therapy that allowed for more than one member of a family to be seen simultaneously (2002, P.

7). Although, The Satir Model created a vast majority of contributions for the counseling society; Banmen created more of awareness with the praise he gave within this article. The article clearly stated how the effects of the Satir model today differs from the Satir model way back when.

The abstract of the article clearly explains how it represents an attempt to update the reader by bringing the more important components of the Satir model into focus.

The objective of the article was to inform the reader of Virginia Satir’s methods of conducting family therapy, which the author clearly states. The article contains several main points including theory, three methods of the therapeutic experience, contemporary family therapy and so forth that are discussed throughout the article. Each point is clearly defined as well as thoroughly discussed within it, such as The Theory of the Satir Model, which goes in depth about Satir’s contributions and what each of them have done; The Three Areas of Therapeutic Intervention, which goes in-depth about the Intrapsychic System, the Interactive System, and the Family-of-Origin System; and the Survival Coping Stances, which talks about how people use these to survive dealing with stress.

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Each one of these main points is imperative to the understanding of how Virginia Satir’s model created such a controversy that ended up being one of the most used contributions of all time. With the section talking about The Theory of the Satir Model, Banmen names a few therapeutic beliefs to set the context of the article. Banmen quotes Satir (1991), stating that these and other beliefs “help guide the therapist with a base from which to view human beings, relationships, and change”. As human beings begin to create lasting relationships with individuals whether they are in their immediate family or close cluster of friends; it helps the therapist not only understand the client more but get a better perception of what needs to be done next. In the section “The Three Areas of Therapeutic Intervention”, Banmen talks about the intrapsychic system that has been identified as connecting human experience to internal communication. It shows how all five senses can be utilized to create a lasting impression with only a bit of a story being told (2002, P. 9); often referred to as the Personal Iceberg Metaphor.

As for the interactive system, describes how conflicts can be deemed as the problem which causes different being common in a world that cycled around being different (2002, P. 12). There is not too much like-mindedness in this particular society. Satir’s thought process evolves around the need to create sameness and differences as a growing culture that was meant to happen. As the article becomes more in-depth with the objectives that Satir wants to cover, The “Survival Coping Stances” section of the article discusses how when using defensive mechanisms individuals are often dealing with a vast amount of stress and family problems. Typically that can affect the nature of how a counseling session can turn out. The author’s main purpose of this article was to inform the reader of the Satir model, which he does, giving plenty of details to describe each part of how Satir would go through therapy.

Banmen even pulls certain quotes from Satir’s books to back up main points and support the topics. Banmen proves that the research that is aligned with Satir’s methods have been evidence based and tested in various aspects that contribute to the therapeutic process. Thanks to Satir’s methods, counseling as a whole has developed into not only a single therapeutic avenue for singles but for families looking for help to become one again. The author explains how each part of Satir’s methods has a place within their own to create a conducive counseling environment. As far as how this article is relevant to Christian counselors, there are a few things that truly stand out. As Christians we are charged with accepting everyone regardless of their transgressions and iniquities.

Within this article it addresses how being different can counteract someone’s sameness which can cause conflict. This is why as counselors we should know what are biases, worldview, and nonnegotiable are before entering into a therapeutic relationship with a client. If the relationship is faulty without an initial positive rapport with the counselor, it will be hard to continue and get everything the client needs to succeed in therapy. Banmen succeed in addressing how the Satir Model not only created a beginning for family therapy but a way for peace and harmony to be one within therapy.