Brief Strategic Family Therapy

Brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) is a sustainable, problem-focused, family-based intervention designed to help children and adolescents with behavioral problems and substance abuse. The goal of BSFT is to identify and restructure maladaptive family patterns of interaction that perpetuate family-identified problems. The treatment intervention is designed to help the family shift from destructive patterns of interactions that are maintaining the problems to the development of new solutions and processes. Research has found that BSFT reduces adolescent drug use, increases treatment engagement and retention, improves family functioning, and emphasizes the cultural context of the family. This entry provides a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of BSFT, relevant research findings for BSFT, and an overview of the techniques used for adolescent drug use.