Dancing  with  –  and  a-er  –  Salvador  Minuchin  26.11.2018  AFT  

   

Eia  Asen    Anna  Freud  Na.onal  Centre  for  Children  and  Families        

University  College  London    

The  ‘Family  Dance’  

 “not  a  seamless  trajectory,  but  a  journey  with  pauses…  a  path  characterized  by  shedding  and  starDng  anew”    And  here  a  brief  descrip.on  of  my  professional  journey  on    and  off  the  structural  path…  

1979….  

Alan  Cooklin  hired  me  to  work  at  the  Marlborough  Family  Service  

 LiIle  did  he  know  that…  

                 I  loved  Psychoanalysis  

                   I  loved  making  sense  of  what  the  pa.ent  said    (wild  associa+ons  and  dissocia+ons)  

conver.ng  them  into  meaningful  uIerances….  

I  loved  meaningful  silences…  

Because  that  gave  me  the  opportunity  to  make  meaning  and  tell  the  paDent  what  he  was  REALLY  feeling  and  thinking…    

BUT….  

           it  became  quite  .ring  working  in  this  way…  

…to  keep  awake,  I  invented  a  few  respecOul  and  innova.ve  techniques  

GeQng  the  violin  out…    and  feeding  the  pa.ent(s)    

…and  then  I  began  to  develop  emoDonal  physiotherapy  interven.ons  

It  was  at  this  point  that  Alan  Cooklin  thought  I  needed  help…  

                                                                                 1980    Rx.  

Externship  with  Salvador  Minuchin  at  the  Philadelphia  Child  Guidance  Clinic    

 The  NHS  paid  for  the  trip  and  for  the  conversion  

experience!      

BUT:  Did  it  turn  out  to  be  a  good  investment?    

The  Philadelphia  Child  Guidance  Clinic  

What  struck  me  about  Structural  Therapy  during  my  training  in  Philadelphia…    

-­‐  Norma.ve  model  -­‐  A  very  boundaried,  if  not  ‘manualized’  approach    

-­‐  Very  challenging  of  parents  and  systems:  “stroking  and  kicking”  (some.mes    in  the  reverse  order!)  

-­‐  Rich  in  the  use  of  metaphors  -­‐  ‘Enactment’  instead  of  ‘Ac.ng  Out’  

and  Salvador  –  and  Pat’s  -­‐  interest  in  marginalized  people  and  families    

Salvador  Minuchin  supervised  us  at  the  Marlborough  Family  Service    in  1981….  

•  formidable  personality  who  did  not  easily  tolerate  dissent    •  Intense  preoccupa.on  with  ‘intensifying’  and  ‘unbalancing’  whatever  and  

whoever  he  could  –  these  were  not  merely  techniques  confined  to  the  work  with  families,  but  they  were  also  liberally  employed  during  supervision    

•  being  ‘live’  supervised  by  Salvador  Minuchin  meant  being  reduced  to  a  mere  disciple  in  the  presence  of  an  unrivalled  ‘master’.  He    would  enter  the  therapy  room  during  sessions  and  the  families  were  immediately  taken  by  his  charm  and  authority  -­‐    reducing  us  lesser  mortals  to  rather  pale  by-­‐standers.  Families  were  very  disappointed  when  in  subsequent  sessions  they  had  to  put  up  with  ‘just’  us  

•  We  did  not  really  mind  such  dynamics  as  we  subscribed  to  the  moIo:  ‘pick  yourself  up,  dust  yourself  down…let’s  start  all  over  again’    

•  Soon  we    became  more  ‘structural’  than  the  ‘master’    

Mul.-­‐Family  Work    

•  SeQng  up  network  mee.ngs  with  parents  AND  professionals    

•  Crea.ng  a  Day  Unit  for  Families  •  Instead  of  choreographing  problem  scenarios  and  then  intervening  ‘live’,  in  MFT  problema.c  interac.ons  reveal  themselves  ‘organically’  rather  than  needing  to  be  provoked  /  staged  

Mul.-­‐Family  Therapy  (MFT)  

•  MFT:  connec.ng  families  with  families;  the  therapist’s  task  is  to  act  as  a  “catalyst”,  making  reac.ons  and  interac.ons  possible  that  might  otherwise  not  take  place  

•  Requires  the  therapist  who  is  con.nuously  ‘on  the  move’,  trying  to  connect  families  with  other  families  

•  The  therapist    is  “in”  and  “out”,  leaving  the  field  and  taking  a  ‘back  seat’,  signaling  that  the  families  themselves  need  to  ‘get  on  with  it’  and  with  each  other    

•  The  therapist  is  in  some  kind  of  “dance  rou.ne”  which  is  characterized  by  alterna.ng  between  being  both  distant  and  proximal  posi.ons    

Metaphors:  What  we  don’t  say…  

•  “parents  are  jailers  who  are  prisoners…and  children  are  prisoners  who  are  jailers”  

•  “there  is  a  Hindu  goddess  who  has  eight  arms.  You,  dad,  you  have  only  two,  but  you  think  you  have  eight.  You  don’t  know  how  to  ask  for  help.  You  don’t  delegate”    

What  we  do  say  (inspired  by  S.  Minuchin):  

•  ”so,  if  you  do  not  want  things  to  con+nue  in  this  way,  how  would  you  like  them  to  be?“  

 •  “what  would  you  have  to  say  or  do  now  to  make  it  be  the  way  you  want  it  to  be?”  

 •  What  would  be  the  first  step  to  get  there?“    

Since  1980s….  MFS  worked  with  systemic  prac..oners  like    Luigi  Boscolo,  Gianfranco  Cecchin,  Carl  Whitaker  and  got  influenced  by  many  others      We  invented  the  “structural  Milan  approach”  and  then  added  a  bit  of  narra.ve,  social  construc.onism,  plenty  of  post-­‐post  stuff  etc  etc      And  more  recently  …      

All  together  now…  

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Mentalizing…  

Mentalizing    

•  MentalizaDon-­‐Based  Therapy  for  Families  (MBT-­‐F)  

•  MentalizaDon-­‐Inspired  Systemic  Therapy  (MIST)  

•  Minuchin-­‐Inspired  Systemic  Therapy  (MIST)?                                                  is  there  such  a  thing?  

A definition of Mentalizing and Mentalization

What is mentalizing? Mentalizing is a form of imaginative mental

activity about others and oneself,

perceiving and interpreting human behaviour in terms of intentional mental states

needs, desires, feelings, beliefs, goals, fantasies, purposes,  reasons,  mispercep.ons,  

delusions

“To see ourselves from the outside and others from the inside”

Mentalizing….  

SELF Perception of one’s own mental states

OTHERS

Perception of / Interaction with Mental states of others

 A  recursive  process  –    

Self  in  rela;on  to  Others  in  rela;on  to  Self  …  

“This  may  sound  stupid,  but  can  I  just  check  this?  What  I  just  don’t  understand  is...  Do  you  mind  if  I  look  around?  I  think  I  may  be  on  a  wild  goose  chase,  but  do  you  mind  if  I….?    I  am  really  not  sure,  not  at  all,  but  it  could  it  be  that..  Forgive  me  for  being  thick,  and  for  asking  odd  ques.ons…”  

• 

“

Self-reflectivity  

Self-reflectivity in couple therapy

Some ingredients of effective mentalizing

Curious stance Self-reflectivity

Perspective-taking

       Re-­‐posi.oning…  

         Kiddy-­‐Scope  

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Teacher-scopes

Teacher-­‐scopes    How  might  a  pupil  view  the  school/  teachers/  world  through  these  glasses?  How  might  the  pupil  see  himself/herself  through  these  glasses?        

Listening  to  hearts  and  minds…    

Some ingredients of effective mentalizing

Curious stance Self-reflectivity

Perspective-taking Playfulness and self-mocking humour

Problem  Sculpts  -­‐    Enac.ng  ‘Frozen  Conflicts’  

Some ingredients of effective mentalizing

Curious stance Self-reflectivity

Perspective-taking Playfulness and self-mocking humour

Autobiographical continuity

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How  did  I  get  here?  

START  

X  

X  

X  

Autobiographical continuity (narrative coherence)

Non-­‐Mentalizing  Interven.ons  

Many  thanks  to  both  of  you  for  eternal  inspira.on  –  Sal  and  Pat!  

Thank you for your interest (so far)