Strategic Family Therapy was founded by Professor Jay Haley in the 1950s. Haley believed that the therapist is the one to initiate the family therapy, and the role of the therapist is directive. The focus of this approach to family therapy is the present and current problems that are being maintained. The symptoms are a form of communication and are all about a problem that is happening in the family/relationship with this approach. Key terms with this approach are paradoxical interventions, pretend technique and re-labeling. Change is believed to be happen through directives given to the family by the therapist that alter communication patterns.
