ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an autobiographical exploration of Dr. Salvador Minuchin, one of the fathers of family therapy and the developer of Structural Family Therapy. The chapter provides the reader with an in-depth exploration of Minuchin’s life and how his history correlated with his style of therapy. The chapter is intended to help family therapists to explore their own idiosyncratic experiences that are related to the resources that they bring to their own craft of being a family therapist. The chapter concludes by challenging the reader to explore their own Zones of Comfort and Areas of Stress, which encompass the obstacles and biases that they bring with them into the therapy room. These aspects of personhood contribute to the self of the therapist and comprise areas of exploration for therapists to understand their own contribution to the therapeutic system.
