Strategic Family Therapy

Developed by Jay Haley and later by Cloe Madanes, strategic family therapy is an outgrowth of the work of the psychiatrist Milton Erickson. A primary feature of this therapy is that the responsibility is on the therapist to plan a strategy for solving the client’s presenting problems or symptomatic behavior. In this process, the therapist sets clear goals, which always include solving the presenting problem. The emphasis is not on a method to be applied to all cases but on designing a strategy for each specific problem. Because the therapy focuses on the social context of human dilemmas, the therapist’s task is to design an intervention in the client’s social situation. Therapy is planned in steps to achieve the goals, and every problem is defined ...