Intergenerational family therapy: what is it and how does it work?

These are the characteristics and objectives of intergenerational family therapy.

Intergenerational family therapy is a modality within the systemic family therapies and its main objective is the treatment of interpersonal conflicts between family members when these conflicts occur. and its main objective is the treatment of interpersonal conflicts between family members when such conflicts have been seen to have occurred between different family generations.

In this article we will see in what consists this modality of family therapy and the ideas and theoretical proposals from which it starts.

What is intergenerational family therapy?

Intergenerational family therapy is a psychological treatment, framed within the systemic family therapies, which was developed with the aim of address various interpersonal conflicts between family members that would have been inherited by predecessor generations of family members, whereby such conflict has remained within the family for many years.The most representative authors of this type of family intervention were the psychiatrists Ivan Boszormenyiya and Ivan Boszormenyiya. The most representative authors of this modality of family intervention were the psychiatrists Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy and Murray Bowen.

On the other hand, intergenerational family therapy, being a systemic model, is also used to analyze the configuration between family systems. analyze the configuration between family systems and the role of each family member within the system.. Also, having been initially developed by psychoanalytically oriented psychiatrists, it is theoretically based on psychoanalysis, especially with regard to the mechanisms of projection in the family, the process of differentiation of the ego or the individual need for change, among others.

Intergenerational family therapy view of the person.

This systemic family approach is based on two ideas: that there is a transmission of emotional and behavioral patterns from generation to generation of family members, and the consideration of the family as the factor that determines the individual autonomy of each of its members. individual autonomy of each of its members.

The first idea, about the transmission of behavioral and emotional patterns between generations of the family, comes from contextual therapy, the main precursor being Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, and is based on the consideration of the family as an emotional unit, being in turn a network of interrelationships between its members that has been developing from generation to generation.

Therefore, it is important to understand the influence of previous generations of family members in order to better understand today's family.. And it is through these members of previous generations that emotional, cognitive and behavioral reaction patterns have been learned.

The second idea, on the consideration of the family as the determining factor of the autonomy of each of its members, whose main precursor is Murray Bowen, is based on the idea that each person has an internal debate between two forces. One is the "individuation force", which focuses on the development of a self-identity and the development of an independent life. The other is the "bonding force," which is focused on maintaining a connection with other family members (e.g., parents, siblings, etc.).

Within this second idea, the key would be to achieve a balance between both forces, that of individuation and that of union.The aim is to give people the capacity to make thoughtful and coherent decisions, instead of reacting only emotionally to certain situations, without having previously reflected before acting.

Vision of the family from intergenerational family therapy.

It should be noted that for Bowen the family is at the beginning a "mass that is undifferentiated from the family ego", so it is composed of a "mass that is undifferentiated from the family ego".Therefore, it is made up of a group of individuals who live within the same emotional context in which there is an exchange of points of view, forms of behavior, emotional reactions, etc. Therefore, its members have jointly developed a web of expectations and needs that must be satisfied (e.g., affection, loyalty, help, etc.).

One of the questions raised by intergenerational family therapy in this respect is that that undifferentiated mass that exists at the beginning in the family must be gradually separated, so that each member of the family achieves a psychological and emotional distance that allows him/her to make his/her own decisions autonomously.The family must gradually separate, so that each of its members achieves a psychological and emotional distance that allows him/her to make his/her own decisions autonomously, which has been called "differentiation of the self".

Otherwise, it will continue with a "fusion" in which the family members do not achieve autonomy and find themselves trapped within the undifferentiated mass of the family, making it difficult for them to establish the limits that should exist with respect to the other members and the identity of the members is dissolved within the family.

Therefore, from this perspective, throughout the whole life cycle, people find themselves within the family. a continuous struggle to achieve a balance between attachment to family members and personal differentiation and autonomy..

The major and most common milestones that usually occur within a family along the process of "differentiation of the self" of the children are the following:

• A person's puberty or adolescence is the beginning of differentiation of his or her own self.
• Forming a couple and moving in with them, which implies separation from their family of origin.
• When their children are born, a new "undifferentiated mass of the self" develops.
• As the children grow up, this undifferentiated mass of the self takes shape.
• The next stage is when your children become independent.

In the new undifferentiated mass it is common for them to use the patterns of relating to their children that they had previously learned from their own parents.. The above example would be a normal individuation process throughout the life cycle; however, this is not always the case, as unexpected crises can occur (e.g. divorce of parents, death of a family member, frequent changes of address, etc.).

Objectives of this type of therapy

According to intergenerational family therapy, the proposed idea of a healthy family should have the following characteristics.

1. The nuclear family

In the nuclear family, being the one that is composed only of parents and children without counting the other family members, clear boundaries between generations must be established. Therefore, parents should have expectations that are balanced with respect to each of the children they have and, based on this, should assist in the proper development of each child's autonomy and identity.

Also, each family member should have the capacity to express affection in a non-possessive way towards other family members, as well as be open to relate to other people (e.g., grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, friends, etc.) without affecting the union of the nuclear family.

2. The parents

Both the mother and the father should have developed a correct and healthy process of differentiation from their family of origin, so it is normal for them to have developed a greater cohesion between the family of origin and the nuclear family. it is normal that they have developed a greater cohesion with the family they have created together than with their family of origin.The parents, as a couple, should have a mutual understanding through empathy and clear expectations of each other's needs and also of each other's relationship, so that they have not lost affection for their parents, siblings and other family members.

At the same time, it is important that the two parents, as a couple, have a mutual understanding through empathy and with clear expectations about the needs of their partner and also with respect to the relationship between them, so they can communicate and solve problems that may arise effectively.

3. The children

Each of the children should have developed the ability to express their affection in an open way and to communicate with their parents without this being in competition with their siblings or between parents for being closer to one of them..

On the other hand, the union and the affection that exists between the members of the family nucleus should not suppose an impediment so that the children go acquiring a greater degree of autonomy as they become older with the purpose of which they are independent some day and thus they can form their own family.

• Related article, "How to educate your children on boundaries?"

The family genogram and chronogram.

The family genogram is one of the main tools of intergenerational family therapy; It is used to collect graphical data about the family with which the treatment is being carried out, gathering information from at least three generations..

This family genogram provides the psychotherapist with information about the family structure, as well as a series of socio-demographic information about the family members (p. It is also useful to have information about the relationships between family members (siblings, parents, cousins, grandparents, etc.), as well as to clarify the connections between the past, the present and the family system as a whole.) On the other hand, it makes it possible to clarify the connections between the past, the present and the family system as a whole.

This technique allows to gather in a summarized way a great amount of data about the family that at the same time helps to develop the hypothesis about the relationship that could exist between the family context and the reason for the consultation for which he/she has come to therapy.

To develop a family genogram, within intergenerational family therapy, the following steps should be followed:

• Begin by tracing the structure of the entire family system.
• The fundamental information about that family is recorded.
• A delineation of the different relationships within the family system is made.

It is common to accompany the family genogram with a chronogram that allows a chronological summary of the most relevant events in relation to the family that could be useful to develop the hypothesis about possible relationships between the facts (for example, that the death of a family member could coincide with moments of crisis in the marriage relationship between two members of the family).