Why We Made This:

• Family therapy can seem like a maze of competing theories, overlapping terminology, and intricate dynamics, making it challenging to fully grasp. Individuals often confuse which theory emphasizes what — whether it’s boundaries, triangulation, homeostasis, or feedback loops — and which techniques belong to which model. We created these visually structured, easy-to-reference charts to help you make sense of family therapy approaches by comparing and contrasting their core principles, founders, interventions, and goals side-by-side.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize and differentiate major family therapy models, including Bowenian, Structural, Strategic, Experiential, Contextual, and others.

• Understand foundational family systems concepts such as triangulation, boundaries, feedback loops, homeostasis, differentiation, and circular causality.

• Learn and apply hallmark family therapy interventions, including reframing, joining, enactments, family sculpting, and circular questioning.

• Link each theory to its founder and conceptual foundation to better understand the historical context and purpose of each approach.