Simulated Family Therapy: A Classroom Demonstration

In this article, we describe a demonstration and discussion of an initial family therapy interview simulated by 4 student volunteers. Several concepts and principles fundamental to family therapy are illustrated: interview stages, one-person definition of a problem, systemic perspective, clear generation line, unified executive team, disengaged parent, overinvolved parent, scapegoated child, functional–dysfunctional family, and family dance. Some interview scenarios also illustrate the concepts of triangulation and coalition. Pretesting and posttesting indicate that the demonstration and discussion were instructive and positively perceived.