Sample Research Paper On Biographical Information Of Virginia Satir

Virginia Satir and the Virginia Satir Theory

Virginia Satir was born in June 26, 1916 and died in September 10, 1988. She spent her professional life as a social worker from which she drew her inspirations for writing several books about family therapy. Three of the most notable books that she wrote are: Conjoint Family Therapy; which was published in 1964, Peoplemaking, which was published in 1972; and The New People Making, which was published in 1988. It was her through her writings that she contributed significantly in the field of social work and in clinical studies.

The Virginia Satir Theory

As a social worker, Virginia Satir is concerned with the improvement of individual organizational performance. She describes the process of change that can undergo as the performance is improved through the help of a social worker. This process of change is described in the Virginia Satir Change Process Model.
Figure 1: The Virginia Satir Theory as illustrated by Steven M. Smith (Smith, 2014)
According to the theory, there are five stages for the performance improvement process. The first stage is called the “Late Status Quo.” At this stage, all members of the organization, such as the family, understands their respective roles to maintain stability. There is not an assurance that each member like his or her role, but each is comfortable with it. The level of performance at this stage is stable. As time passes, a foreign element, such as challenge or a problem is introduced to an organization. The immediate reaction of the organization to this foreign element is to resist it. For example, a family has to move to a different neighborhood and realize that the people in their neighborhood have a different culture. Some of the family members or the family as whole will try to disregards this obvious difference that they are experiencing. They may choose not to mingle with the new people by isolating themselves. Nevertheless, the group will later realize that resistance is not the proper way to meet the challenge. This realization may cause chaos in the family bringing their overall performance down. Performance may refer to different factors such as the school performance of the children of the quality of the relationship between husband and wife. The decrease in the level of performance if indicated by the sudden drop of the curve on step three as indicated in the figure. After some time, a transforming idea suddenly appears. This transforming idea could come from the organization or from some other forces. It is through this stage that the work of social worker is slowly realized. The transforming idea will gradually increase the level of performance of the group. The said idea would usually include a way of integrating the foreign element into the group. The group will eventually use the foreign element into their advantage during the integration process. The group will eventually improve in incorporating the foreign element and the transforming idea in their daily or natural process hence improving their overall performance. The higher level of performance will eventually stabilized into a new status quo. This status quo will remain stable for a time until a new foreign element is introduced into the group (Evers, Fokman and van den Ende, 2014).
The model can be better understood if the seeds of its creation are known. Accordingly, Satir believed in the innate goodness that everyone has. This innate goodness can be best manifested if each individual within a group has sufficient self-esteem. Our self-esteem is influenced by many factors which include our past generations who help shape our behaviors and attitudes. Aside from inappropriate attitudes and behaviors, unrealistic expectations could also adversely affect the level of self-esteem leading to a dysfunctional group. The role of the therapist, therefore is help the innate goodness of in each individual become manifest by increasing the self-esteem of each person in the group. The social worker can best do this by holding onto his or her beliefs and virtues standing as an example to each of his her patients (Communications/ Humanistic Family Therapy, 2015).

Clinical Applications of the Virginia Satir Change Process Model

The clinical application of the Virginia Satir Change Process Model has helped many clinical practitioners as well as patients in achieving their respective goals. Accordingly, the theory or model serves a basis for designing the course of change for their patients. The theory can be applied to therapeutic techniques as it paves ways to develop a context for change the change process that each consultant or patient. The theory is also a basis for the monitoring of the success of the clinical intervention (Communications/ Humanistic Family Therapy, 2015). Accordingly, the five main stages described in the theory can serve as points in the clinical intervention process from which the success of the intervention can be evaluated from. It should be noted that clinical practitioners who are using the humanistic approach are the ones who find significant use of the theory. It should be noted that the theory touches the importance of communication in its clinical applications. The theory can be used to determine the proper communication approaches to different types of patients. The said theory is currently used in family therapy. Nevertheless, its application proves to be sound in the individual and in the organization levels (Banmen, 2009). The theory can help individuals develop a sense of self-worth which allows then to function efficiently within groups or organizations. Lastly, the theory has been extensively used in the development of other clinical application models. At present, there is an increasing interest among clinical practitioners to integrate in their practice the concept of forgiveness, particularly into the field of therapy. They anticipate that theory could help shed light to the contradictory results in practice of integrating the said concept. Undoubtedly, the Virginia Satir Change Process Model has helped many individuals to solve their personal and group issues. The soundness of the said model is evident in its diverse applications in clinical practice (Banmen, 2010).

Personal Views

I resonate towards Virginia Satir in the application of the Virginia Satir Model. It is interesting to note that as I read through the details of the theory, I came to realize that the tory can be applied, personally, in almost every endeavor that a person is into. The reason for this is that the theory is founded upon humanistic principles which I also believe in. I believe that there is an innate goodness in every person and that each person understands himself well if not better than anybody else. This innate goodness is what should be tapped if each person will succeed in meeting his or her challenges or problems. I also believe in the importance of self-esteem and self-worth to the well-being of individuals. I have seen many instances where people tend to act abnormally due to lack of self-esteem. Not only are their personal lives turned weary and unproductive but the lives of the people close to them as well. I could remember one family which parents had to stop from work because they feel depressed each time they see one of their daughters spend her entire days inside the room doing nothing. I have also had the privilege of talking to people who were previously clients or patients of clinical practitioners. Based from their testimonies, they indeed felt that their self-esteem was so low that it discouraged them to do anything productive. It is only through the help of the clinical practitioners and some family members that they learned to overcome their issues and turn things around for their sake and for the sake of their loved ones.

References

Banmen, J. (2009). Virginia Satir: A short story. The Satir Journal, 3 (1), p. 62-68.
Banmen, J. (2010). Forgiveness as therapy in the Satir model. The Satir Journal, 4 (1), p. 6-23.
“Communications/ Humanistic Family Therapy” (2015). Sage Publishing. Retrieved from: <http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/35409_Chapter4.pdf>.
Evers, M.; Fokman, N.; and van den Ende, Willen. (2014). Satir Change Model. Retrieved from: <http://www.satirworkshops.com/files/satirchangemodel.pdf>.
Smith, S.M. (2014). The Satir Change Model. Retrieved from: <http://stevenmsmith.com/ar-satir-change-model/>.