Triadic Restructuring (TR) is a method of restructuring or re-patterning that encompasses an array of techniques which occur in three-person and larger systems. Thus, TR utilizes techniques which alter process, structure, hierarchy, and function of triads and family systems at domain Level III (triadic-relational) of the total ecological system. Viewing the system using an increasingly macroscopic lens, TR techniques tend to focus on dyads which are unstable having engaged a third-person to stabilize the dyad. Whereas, DR is concerned with self-other configurations, TR emphasizes a dyad + another. These techniques are primarily derived from family systems approaches but may also be used individually. Triangular configurations may exist in multiple configurations, both generationally and muti-generationally.
A SAMPLE LIST OF TECHNIQUES (Go to Psychotherapedia for a more complete listing)
Relational triadic restructuring:
- Redefining boundaries (Minuchin (1981)
- Paradoxical prescriptions (Selvini-Pallazoli M. et. al. 1978)
- Paradoxical predictions (Weeks and L’Abate, 1982; Allen, 2003)
- Differentiation of Self in Presence of One’s Family of Origin (Bowen, 1978)
- Externalizing Patterns of Interaction (Zimmerman & Dickerson, 1996)
- Pretend Techniques (Madanes, 1981)
- Animal Attribution Story-telling Technique (Arad, 2004)
- Family Puppet Interviews (Irwin & Malloy, 1975)
- Family Sculpting (Satir & Baldwin, 1983)
Cognitive-Behavioral triadic restructuring:
- Letter Writing (Epston, 1994)
- Shaping Schwitzgebel & Kolb, 1964)
- Token Economies (Baer & Sherman, 1969)
- Contingency Contracting (Stuart, 1971)
- Contingency Management (Schwitzgebel, 1967)
- Time-Out (Rimm & Masters, 1974)