Anorexia treatment is the focus of this overview consisting of eight pages with a contrast and comparison between traditional strategic methods and the structural approach of Salvador Minuchin. Twelve sources are cited in the bibliography.
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Minuchin discusses the value of including the anorexics entire family - along with important "others" - in the treatment of the anorexic. Minuchin (1986) argues that families are systems,
and as such must continue to function as systems. The emergence of an anorexic daughter (usually, though anorexia can appear in other family members as well), rather than being
a sign that only the daughter needs treatment, heralds the fact that something has gone wrong with "the system" and that the entire system needs to be addressed.
Minuchins structural approach is akin to maintaining a physical, tangible system. Using that of the automobile as example, every driver understands that if a
car part breaks and needs to be repaired, chances are that something else has been affected as well. Other components of the system need to be evaluated to determine
their functional status. After ensuring that the system can function at reduced capacity for a short while, the technician needs to investigate further to determine where the stresses that
ultimately caused the failure of a critical part originated. The analogy of the cars mechanical system and the function of the family of
the anorexic share qualities of having developed their individual qualities over time as well as the fact that, though time and attention can and should be given to the part
of the system that most needs attention at the time, one who would presume to "fix" the system also must look further into the ways in which the system functions.
At some less obvious point, stresses are introduced into the system that places undue stress on a particular point of that system. When anorexia emerges, that "particular point"