Multiple Family Group Intervention

Andrea K. Wittenborn, M.S.

Purdue University
and
Margaret K. Keiley, Ed.D., LMFT
Auburn University
Overview of Presentation
z Problem Definitions and Goals
z Theoretical Underpinnings
z Intervention Process
Common Problems
z High levels of negative affect in
relationships result in conflictual
interactional cycles of fighting and
avoiding that:
– Disrupt attachment bonds
– Impair cognitive functioning
– Foster chronic physiological arousal
– Interfere with communication and
problem-solving
Intervention Goals
Participants will:
z Regulate their affect more effectively
z Risk taking a new relational
(attachment) stance
z De-escalate coercive and conflictual
interactional cycles
z Increase their ability to communicate
and problem solve
Affect Theory
z What is affect?
– Information about our experience and desire.
z How is affect regulated?
– Affect regulation involves tolerance,
awareness, expression, and control of the
physiological, behavioral, and experiential
aspects of affect.
– Affect regulation is first co-constructed as part
of the attachment process in infancy.
Attachment Theory
z Why does attachment exist?
– Survival mechanism
– To maintain the proximity with a
caregiver, especially in a stressful
situation.
– Goal is to reduce arousal and reinstate a
sense of felt security.
Internal Working Models
z Working models of the world
z Working models of the self

These internal working models of how

attachment relationships operate
predispose individuals to habitual
forms of engagement with others,
including the regulation of affect.
Link between Affect & Attachment
• Secure individuals are able to flexibly
manage their emotions and their distance
from others in conflictual interactions.
• Ambivalently (Anxiously) attached
individuals tend to heighten distress with
anger and pursue in conflictual
interactions.
• Avoidantly attached individuals tend to
restrict the communication of anger and
distress and withdraw from conflictual
interactions.
Examples of the Links between
Affect & Attachment
• Secure:
• Overtly: expressing vulnerable underlying
feelings
• Ambivalent
• Overtly: nagging, angry criticism, and pursuit
• Underneath: fear of rejection or sadness about
disconnection
• Avoidant
• Overtly: stonewalling, withdrawing, or flat
affect
• Underneath: anger, hurt, sadness, and fear of
incompetence
Change in the Context of MFGI
z The MFGI alters the family members’
internal working models (IWMs)
– IWMs influence immediate responses to
conflict and thus helps de-escalate the
coercive cycles and negative affect.
– In turn, this allows the adolescents and family
members to create closer bonds with each
other.
z The development of this attachment
security might curb a relapse to sexual
offending, delinquent behavior, substance
abuse for the adolescents
Intervention Description
z8 weeks
z 90 minute sessions
z 2-4 trained facilitators
z 5-8 families
z 6-step method for affect regulation
and re-attachment
Engagement
z Ongoing process every week
z Result of engagement
– Participants are less likely to drop out
of the group
– They feel confident that you care, that
you understand their situation, and that
you can help them
 Intervention Sessions
z Review steps
z Discuss a specific step
z Video vignettes
z Discuss situations from the
participants’ and facilitators’ lives in
relation to the step
z Role plays
z Distribute thought cards
z End with ritual
 Overview of Program
z Week 1
– Overview, Introductions, and Pre-Test Questionnaires
z Week 2
– Step 1: Becoming Aware
z Week 3
– Step 2: Toleration, Stopping Finding Some Space
z Week 4
– Step 3: Identifying Underlying Feelings
z Week 5
– Step 4: Taking the Other Person's Perspective
z Week 6
– Step 5: Expressing Underlying Feelings
z Week 7
– Step 6: Connecting
z Week 8
– A Celebration and Post-Test Questionnaires
Week 1:
How do I know what I’m feeling?
z We need to notice when feelings
begin, especially the feelings of
anger, sadness, and fear.
z Participants are asked about specific
thoughts and behaviors that occur
when they are feeling an emotion.
– For example, if they are angry they may
feel their heartbeat accelerate.
Week 2: How to Stop
We need to stop and find some space
to calm ourselves just long enough to
think about what this powerfully
negative reaction is all about

WE DO NOT WANT TO SHUT THESE

FEELINGS DOWN OR ACT THEM OUT
Week 3: Vulnerability
We then need to think about our
hidden or underlying feelings. These
feelings are often the more vulnerable
ones such as fear, sadness, hurt.

ANGER DISTANCES: Anger tends to

push other people away, while the
more vulnerable feelings tend to
connect us to others.
Week 4: Empathy, Respect
z Other Person’s Perspective:
– What might the other person be feeling?
– Is he/she angry?
– What underlying feelings might he/she
have?
– Is he/she also scared or hurt?
Week 5: Risking
We express our more vulnerable feelings to
the other. Taking a risk. We may also
express our guess about the other person’s
underlying more vulnerable feelings, but this
is not necessary

VULNERABLE FEELINGS ALLOW

CONNECTION, BUT THE FEAR OF TAKING A
RISK OFTEN GETS IN THE WAY.
Week 6: Softening
We become more vulnerable and
connected to the other person as we
begin to express our underlying feelings
and have some understanding of the
other person’s experience.

Result: Better Able to Communicate and

Solve Long-Standing Problems
Resources for Additional
Information
z Keiley, M.K. (2005). Multiple Family Group
Intervention for Incarcerated Adolescents and
Their Families: A Pilot Project. Manuscript under
review.

z Keiley, M. K. (2002). Affect regulation and

attachment: A framework for family treatment of
conduct disorder. Family Process, 41, 477-493.

z Keiley, M.K. (2002). The development and

implementation of an affect regulation and
attachment intervention for incarcerated
adolescents and their parents. The Family
Journal, 10, 177-189.