ABSTRACT
This chapter compares and contrasts structural family therapy and Adlerian family therapy. It was noted by Burck that there is a tendency among followers of a psychotherapy theory, both individual and family, to utilize the practice of theory seizure. Sprenkle, Keeney, and Sutton attempted to identify the relation between theory and clinical practice. The study found that older clinical AAMFT members regarded individual psychodynamic theorists as most influential. Minuchin emphasizes the interactions of the subsystems, the necessary parts of a family that are utilized to fulfil a particular function. A families structure and its organizational characteristics originate with the parents. Another key concept of structural family therapy is the adaptability of a family to stress. Minuchin identified the following four major sources of stress: a family member's stressful contact with extra familiar forces; the entire family's stressful contact with extra familiar forces; stress at transitional points in the family life cycle; and the stress around idiosyncratic problems.
