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Identifying
and Altering Dynamics of Conflict
Psychoeducation, Guidance, and Support for Parents Struggling
with Their Teenagers
The
Concept
- The Parenting
Laboratory™ is based on the premise that each teenager holds
a unique set of challenges for his or her parents, and that
through education and feedback parents can become more aware
of their characteristic ways of relating and responding to
their teens.
- If parents are
provided with an opportunity to gain an understanding of these
relational dynamics and supported with alternative ways of
responding, they will become more flexible and adept at not
only resolving conflict with their teens, but at improving
the overall quality of their relationship with them. Bridging
Empirical Research and Clinical Application.
- The Parenting
Laboratory™ is a therapeutic experience inspired by empirical
research. Dr. Tobin’s doctoral dissertation was a longitudinal
study evaluating how suicidal adolescents’ relationships with
their parents changed following their suicide attempt. Findings
indicated that aspects of the parent-teen relationship predicted
both teens’ relapse and improved psychiatric status, thus
supporting the notion that adolescents’ relationships with
their parents are highly significant and may in fact be “protective”
of negative outcomes in teens if the relationship is a good
one.
- A related component
of this research was the assessment of the quality of the
parent-teen relationship through videotaped analysis of actual
interactions. The ways in which parents and teens negotiated
with each other, expressed emotion, assigned blame, manifested
characteristic attitudes and beliefs, and attempted to problem-solve
revealed deeply-engrained relational dynamics not picked up
in paper-and-pencil measures.
- Anecdotally, Dr.
Tobin noticed that after the videotaping exercise parents
seemed able to acknowledge what they were doing (or not doing)
when talking with their teens that likely contributed to ongoing
patterns of conflict.
Referral to
the Parenting Laboratory™ and the Assessment Protocol
- Parents and adolescents
who are in conflict or who seek to improve the overall quality
of their relationship are appropriate referrals.
- A five-session
assessment will include Dr. Tobin’s interviews with family
members and a videotaped exercise in which parents and their
adolescent are asked to engage in a discussion about a topic
of contention in an attempt to make forward progress.
- The videotaped
session will be evaluated and scored by Dr. Tobin utilizing
a coding procedure that locates “points of impasse” and “breakdown
moments”; interactive factors both preceding and following
these ruptures will be organized into a “relational architecture”
which illustrates the structure of conflict and its salient
features.
- In a feedback
session, the results of the videotape analysis will be shared.
Following the feedback, Dr. Tobin will provide recommendations
that may include the following: couples therapy, parent training
and support, psychopharmacological evaluation, family therapy,
individual therapy (for child or parent), and/or neuropsychological
evaluation. The relational dynamics noted in the videotaped
analysis will serve to organize and integrate various treatments
if multiple/adjunctive services are warranted.
Parent Training
and Support
- Following the
assessment, parents who would like to continue their work
with Dr. Tobin in the context of the Parenting Laboratory™
will be provided with ongoing parent guidance sessions.
- Referrals are
now being accepted for a parent support group designed to
give parents a venue for mutual support, discussion of “lessons
learned,” and ongoing feedback.
- A webinar series
will be offered on such issues as limit-setting, communication,
adolescents’ self-esteem, and high-risk behaviors in adolescence.
- Parents will be
given the opportunity to participate in follow-up videotaped
exercises with their teenager to chart progress and continue
to enhance awareness of relational dynamics that hinder mutual
understanding, respect, and resolution of conflict.
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