A Review of Conjoint Family Therapy and the Theories of Virginia Satir

Introduction

Over sixty-five years ago, Virginia Satir began therapeutic work with people, first as a school teacher, and later as a social worker. Through years of work in the field of psychology, she developed her own approach of working with families. Namka (2003) described Satir as warm, brilliant, and knowledgeable of the pain of being human. According to Namka, Satir steered the mental health field away from the concept of pathology and toward the notion of people as a product of negative family patterns.

Family Theory

Satir (1983) rationalized that the primary goal of the family therapist is to deal with family pain. According to Satir, family pain manifests itself in the symptoms of one family member but extends itself to all family members in some shape or form. Satir distinguished the family member who carries the predominant symptom as the "Identified Patient," or "I.P.".

Satir (1983) believed that a pained marital relationship is likely to result in dysfunctional parenting patterns. In effect, the Identified Patient is the family member who is most affected by the pained marital relationship and most subjected to dysfunctional parenting. Satir defined the Identified Patient's symptoms as an "SOS" regarding his parents' pain and the resulting family imbalance.

Satir (1983) described the family as an interacting unit that strives to achieve balance in relationships through the use of repetitious, circular, and predictable communication patterns. This phenomenon is known as family homeostasis. Satir described the spousal mates as the architects of the family and contended that the marital relationship is the axis around which all other family relationships are formed. Thus, family homeostasis is directly influenced by the marital relationship.

The Spousal Unit and Low Self-Esteem