ABSTRACT
Experiential family therapies are predicated on the here-and-now, where therapists help family members access their experiences and uniqueness in the session. This allows people to become authentic, accepting their own individuality as well as the uniqueness of others. This chapter considers the most significant experiential family therapies: Virginia Satir's growth model and Carl Whitaker's Symbolic-Experiential Family therapy (S-EFT). One of Satir's most famous techniques was that of sculpting. Sculpting is when the therapist has one member create a picture of her experience by moving people spatially and behaviorally so that people's inner world can be seen in an outward manner. S-EFT therapists assess families based on competencies and resources. This is important since the goal of therapy is to have family members experience a richer life. Therapists do not double-think themselves, but live in the moment, being congruent and authentic. This makes S-EFT a bit more difficult to teach, relying not on manualization but the intuition of the therapist.
