Virginia Satir
I have read many theories so far on how to conduct therapy, and I have to say I think family therapy is the most powerful and beneficial to the client. I have read how Bowen, Napier, and Whitaker perform their style of family therapy, and they have great ideas and techniques on how to begin and work the process, but one therapist has made a real connection with me on how to accomplish this process and that is Virginia Satir. What stuck a cord with me about her is her ability to think on her feet and flexibility to help the individual and/or family. It is truly an art form that she has mastered. Besides having the skills to facilitate healing, I love her way of thinking, which allows for personal growth.
She talks about how our society lives in a “Threat and Reward” model that is not conducive to learning. In fact, it hinders many of us, if not all of us. For one to step out of the bubble to have personal growth, one needs to look at change as an ongoing life process. Satir calls this way of thinking the “Seed” model. “In the Seed model, human beings are considered to be potentially good. This is not saying that people are born innocent or good, but that there is a wisdom to the body and that, given the proper conditions of nurture, children, like seedlings, are likely to develop into healthy adults” (p. 165). I believe this to be true, but because of the way our system is set up, beginning with school on into the work force, we are force to follow the rules set in place that hinders our own creative ability to learn. So the first step in applying Satir’s method of therapy to realize that each individual is unique, and to help the client realize that it is OK to be different.
Many clients have grown up not able to think for themselves because of this Threat and Reward model, thus leaving them feeling incomplete. Western culture has made us believe that in order to make it in this world, one has to use only the left hemisphere of our brain, which is our intellectually part. But by limiting ourselves to this way of thinking, it leaves us feeling not whole. As Virginia states, this has made us a culture of “half-wits” (p.177). She teaches that we need to use both sides of our brain, including the right hemisphere, which is our emotions and creative side. Once we realize that both hemispheres are pivotal in being a whole person, one can become enlighten and opens up whole realm of new possibilities. She instructs clients on how to tap into the right hemisphere, allowing them to acknowledge their feelings, thus beginning the healing process. Once a client understands that they don’t have to censor their feelings such as anger, frustration, love, and fear, one can begin to experience life’s happenings.
Since many clients were never able to express or comprehend their feelings, these feelings, also known as energy, resurface in other manifestations; physically, as in illness; intellectually, as in thought disturbances or limitations; or emotionally, as in nervousness or mental disorders. Because of this Western culture, we have been taught not to think for ourselves but let others do the thinking for us. Instead of seeing our body as a whole system working together, we have been taught to look at each part as separate entities. We seek help from specialist in each area. We put our bodies in the hands of physicians, our brains with educators, our emotions with therapists, and our souls with clergy. Each part is critical, and working on one area of our life can and will make positive changes, but in order to be completely healthy individuals, we have to be conscious how they all work together, which Virginia strives to inform us. Virginia’s goal in life is for people to develop these qualities of the self (body, brain, emotions, senses, interactions, nutrition, context, and soul) that will help them to become more fully human, and to make in themselves the changes necessary to bring this about (p.180).
If we accept as a given a person’s genetic endowment, everything else a person is (feelings, thoughts, and behaviors) comes out of his learnings (p.181). The beauty of Virginia’s therapy is she does not try to have the client unlearn what they have been taught, but to use the additive process. To build on what they know and to show there are alternative ways to manage oneself, and through using these new coping methods, the old ways will atrophy from disuse. People know what is best for them, but we have relied on others since birth to tell us what is right or wrong, many of us have lost that basic instinct. So Virginia uses strategic questions and techniques to assist clients to find their own answers. By releasing and redirecting that blocked up energy (feelings), one can begin to work on the eight levels of the self.
The way in which Satir is able to help with this bottled up energy is to understand what symptoms the client is experiencing through an assessment. The assessment can take place in the first few minutes or the first few sessions, depending on the level of self worth the client has obtain. “To explore the self-esteem of family members, the therapist uses his visual observational skills to watch how individual family members present themselves and communicate with one another nonverbally, and his auditory skills to listen for the content and process of oral communication” (p. 196). Most clients have built a defense mechanism to protect their self worth, so it is key to build a strong therapeutic relationship to allow the client to break down these walls. Working on the presenting problem will only help the client in the short term, while raising the client’s self-esteem will help them through out their life. When a client has high self-esteem they are able to process and workout their own problems by finding the answer within them and not from some external source.
The second part of the assessment is to understand the client’s communication style. Virginia describes four incongruent or dysfunctional communication stances: placating, blaming, being super-reasonable, and being irrelevant; the placatory hides his vulnerability by attempting to please others; the blamer hides his vulnerability by attempting to control others and by disagreeing indiscriminately; the super-reasonable person treats every aspect of living as an intellectual experience that bypasses the inner self and ensures the anesthesia of any feelings; and the irrelevant stance handles stress by pretending that it is not there (p.199). People can and do use all of these stances, and it is Satir’s goal to help the client understand their incongruence when communicating. What she means by incongruent communication is when there is a discrepancy between the verbal and nonverbal message. Because these messages are conflicting, people have a difficult time comprehending what one is trying to communicate. This causes the client to have lower self-esteem because they feel no one understands them. So being able to express one’s feeling appropriately is crucial in helping the client raise their self-worth.
Once an assessment has been made on the level of the client’s self-esteem and communication style, Virginia can begin her preferred therapeutic approach, the Human Validation Process Model. In order for a therapist to use this therapeutic approach, one has to believe in four assumptions; people are geared toward growth and change and are capable of all kinds of transformation, all human beings carry with them all the resources they need to flourish, any situation is the result of multiple stimuli and multiple effects which in turn means that blame cannot be assigned to individuals, and the therapist is capable to model for the client the quality of congruence (pg. 207-208). Based on these assumptions, the Human Validation Process has three stages.
The first stage is making contact. During this stage, she creates a feeling of hope and trust. She wants everyone to feel that they are their own unique being whose feelings are legitimate. Usually a contract is negotiated during this stage where the therapist and clients discuss mutual expectations. The second stage begins when a client or clients begin to take risk and are able to express their underlying pain, vulnerabilities, and the frailties of which they are ashamed. Virginia calls this the Chaos stage. Until the client is capable of taking risks, no growth will occur, and will stay in the contact stage. Once a client is willing to take that leap of faith, the intervention can begin and it is at this stage the therapist must have many tools at their disposal to handle any situation that should take place. The third stage, Integration, occurs when closure has been made on the issue that created the turmoil in the preceding stage (p. 220).
There are several interventions Virginia uses to reach the Integration stage and they are: sculpture, metaphor, drama, reframing, humor, and touch. Sculpture is where the clients are position like statues representing their communication stance. Metaphor is using one concept to represent another, which changes a threatening situation into a non-threatening condition. Drama allows the clients to act out a scene from their own life. Reframing is altering a story or circumstance to see the positive aspects so it can be handled more constructively. Humor is used to create a relaxing and comfortable zone while conducting therapy. Finally, Virginia uses touch because of the significant importance it has with us as humans. She starts out most of her sessions with a handshake, and as a rapport is built, uses it as a source of nonverbal support.
This paper is just the tip of the iceberg in describing Virginia Satir therapeutic style. I believe she is on the right path in her thinking to create a healthy society. We have strayed so far from being centered, that there is much work for us as therapist to help people get reconnected with their true being. Our society has taught and trained us to ignore how we are feeling, and concentrate on the past and future, instead of the present. When one is in the present, one is able to focus on what needs to be done now, and is not held down from the past or overwhelmed by the future.
Bibliography
Satir, V. & Baldwin, M. (1983). Satir Step by Step. Palo Alto, California: Science and Behavior Books, Inc.
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