COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Students are expected to have completed the readings assigned for the week and be prepared to discuss the material in class. Participation will factor into the final grade (13%). Absences should be arranged in advance. Midterm and Final assignments are due at the beginning of the class period. Late assignments be penalized. Cell phones must be turned off. No voicemail or text messaging.

MIDTERM EXAMINATION: Write a paper about either

a) one of your clinical cases, or

b) a population for which you would like to design a treatment/intervention program.

The paper should be organized into the following sections and contain the following elements.

1. Brief Description. Describe your involvement with this case:

a) who called for the initial appointment,

b) date of first appointment,

c) number of sessions to date (if the case is no longer active, provide the total number of sessions),

d) approximate spacing of sessions

(e.g. weekly for the first six sessions and then every other week for the remaining five sessions, etc.).

If you are designing a program, describe the length of time you have been involved with this population and how you first came into contact with it. Describe the intensity of your study (e.g. 30 hours per week) and the type of contact you have maintained (e.g. clinical contact, client management, program design, program evaluation, program or staff administration).
Overview. Briefly describe the members of the family. Attach a structural family map and a two/three-generation genogram to clarify your description.

For those who are creating a program, describe the clinical population and the methods of influence. Diagram the formal and informal sources of influence.

3. Presenting, Problem. Describe the presenting problem from the point of view of the person who called for the appointment and then from the perspective of each member of the family.

For program planners, describe the problem from a societal point of view and from the perspective of each of the formal and informal systems that have contact with the clinical population.

4. Context. Describe features about this case that are relevant-e.g. ethnicity, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, etc.

If you are designing a treatment protocol for a population, describe the contextual features that are relevant and how you will tailor the program to the contextual framework.

5. Interaction Sequences. Describe the sequence of behaviors the client/family uses when telling you about the problem. Describe the sequence the client/family uses when the problem takes place. Describe the sequence the client/family uses when the problem is not taking place. Describe the interaction sequence that takes place as you and/or others attempt to solve the presenting problem. Describe the structural aspects of the interactional pattern. Describe the emotion within the client/family that the interactional patterns mask.

If you are developing a program, describe the behavioral/social sequences that take place when the problem occurs and when it does not occur. Describe other factors that influence the presence of the problem. Describe factors that influence the absence of the problem. Describe the sequences that occur-as family and other formal and informal systems attempt to solve the problem. Describe the structural elements of the system.

6. Family Process. At a meta-level, describe what these sequential behaviors do for each member of the family and for each alliance.
For program development, describe at a meta-level what these sequential behavioral chains do for each formal and informal system that influences the population.

FINAL EXAMINATION : For the final examination you will use the case or treatment population that you used for your midterm, however your purpose will be to develop interventions drawing upon each of the treatment models we have studied during the quarter. For each of the interventions, you will need to provide the following.

1. Specific Interaction: Identify the specific interaction or behavioral sequence you intend to change.
For program designers, identify the problem-behavior sequence(s) you wish to change in your target population.

2. Rationale: Provide a rationale for this specific sequence-e.g. why are you selecting this sequence for use with this particular treatment approach. Be sure you identify the intended effect. Identify the potential adverse reactions and what you will do to prevent them. If one of the adverse reactions were to occur, explain what you will do to place the therapy back on track.

For those designing a program, provide a rationale for the sequence you have targeted-e.g. why are you selecting this sequence for use with this particular treatment approach.' .Identify the intended effect on your target population. Identify the intended effect on the other formal and informal systems that influence your target population. Describe the potential adverse reactions and how you will ascertain whether they have occurred Describe your methodology for how you intend to prevent such inadvertent effects. Explain how you will modify your program design if inadvertent effects were to occur in your target population.

3. Environmental Climate: Explain how you will establish a climate of receptivity for your intervention. Describe what you will do/say.

4. Intervention: Describe the intervention, the shift you expect to occur, and the changes you expect in each family member. Describe how you will deliver the intervention. Using a dialogue, say what you would actually say when delivering the intervention and how you imagine family members responding. Say how you will language it. Describe the persons to whom you will present the intervention (e.g. whole family, parents, siblings alone, etc.). If you are constructing one intervention for a person or a subsystem and a different intervention for another, explain the safeguards you will use to prevent contamination from one to the other, and what you will say/do if your different assignments are shared.

For program planners, describe the intervention. Describe how the intervention will be delivered. Describe the frequency and intensity of the intervention (i.e. dosage).

5. Contingency Plans: Describe what the client(s) would be likely to say/do in response to your intervention (resist, intensify symptoms, agree with you, become emotionally reactive to you, cognitively reflect on the nature of your intervention, etc.), then describe what you will say/do.

6. Maintaining the shift: Assuming that the intervention is successful, explain what you will say/do to ensure that the change is maintained. (We can't assume that everyone "lives happily ever after.")

If you are designing a program, describe the methods you will you employ to ensure that change is maintained.

For the final examination you are expected to provide interventions for the following approaches:

A) The approach of the early Bateson group as they attempted to change relationships by changing the communication patterns (Bateson, Watzlawick's Pragmatics, early Haley.

B) The structural method of altering interactional patterns

C) The strategic approach of either Jay Haley or Cloe Madanes.

D) The strategic approach of Olga Silverstein, Peggy Papp. 08
Narrative Therapy

F) Metaframeworks or Internal Family Systems Therapy.