Each model has its own approach using different ways in conceptualizing a problem and developing treatment plans that support the goals stated for therapy.
[2] Both these models use similar approaches and define goals with various therapeutic processes that begin with the building of therapist and client relationship.
[3]: 247 In addition, goals of family structure are to alter the dynamics and provide new alternative ways in solving problems and interactions.
This includes realignment or the altering of behaviors in the family structure by working with each member finding ways to improve interaction.
Therapeutic change cannot occur unless some pre-existing frames of reference are modified, flexibility introduced and new ways of functioning developed.
The aim of such interventions is often to cause the unbalancing of the family system, in order to help them to see the dysfunctional patterns and remain open to restructuring.
Because structures tend to self-perpetuate, especially when there is negative feedback, Minuchin asserts that therapeutic change is likely to be maintained beyond the limits of the therapy session.
In reference, intervention methods are based on directives that feed the symptom by giving a set of instructions to emphasize communication.
The primary assumption and foundation of this model is to identify family structure and the subsystems that are formed through the level of authority and boundaries.
[1] According to Minuchin, a family is functional or dysfunctional based upon its ability to adapt to various stressors[6]: 246 (extra-familial, idiosyncratic, developmental), which, in turn, rests upon the clarity and appropriateness of its subsystem boundaries.
In particular, stressed families and those with a mentally ill parent or child, were significantly more likely to show hierarchy reversals and, in terms of cohesion, cross-generational coalitions.
[8] Further, feminist family therapy critics have argued[9][10] that concepts such as "enmeshment" may "reflect prototypically male standards of self and relationships, which contribute to the common practice of labeling women's preferred interactional styles as pathological or dysfunctional.
"[11] Empirical research in this critical feminist tradition has found that young women with the strongest sense of family cohesion have the highest social self-esteem, despite exhibiting what could be pathologized as "enmeshment".