“If I had one hour to save the world I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.” –Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein’s quote is key in understanding how the profession of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) is distinct and separate from other professions in the mental health field. Chapters 11 and 12 of the required text for class defined and defended well the field of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) as a distinct and separate profession in terms of its “scientific body of knowledge, some relevant theory, a code of ethics, and some specific techniques” (Wilcoxon et al, 2007). To continue the definition and the defense of the MFT field in the same terms would be redundant and overshadow the characteristic I believe distinguishes MFT from other mental health professions; compassion. No doubt that this statement will be met by protest from many in the “other” mental health professions. However, amidst the protest, I intend to shed light on my use of Einstein’s quote and it’s correlation to the field of MFT and define and defend my assertion that MFT’s are a distinct and separate profession through the redefinition of the word compassion, in this paper.
Traditionally, Webster’s Dictionary defines compassion (taken from the Latin prefix “com” meaning similar and the root word “passion” meaning feeling) as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” There is little doubt that those in the mental health field possess and display compassion in the work they do. However, compassion as defined by a simple (although non-traditional) restructuring of the word such that compass becomes the root word (meaning encircling) and the suffix ion, (meaning the act of) becomes the definition I intend to use to distinguish how the compassionate (act of encircling or encompassing) “approach” Marriage and Family Therapists apply to the clients we serve, defines MFT as a separate and distinct profession.
The founding and emerging theories in the field of marriage and Family Therapy share the foundational systemic perspective of a “broad, biopsychosocial perspective in which biological, psychological, relational, community and even societal processes are viewed as relevant to understanding people’s problems” (Nichols and Schwartz, 2008, p.417). Marriage and Family Therapy is “an approach to people in context” (Nichols and Schwartz, 2008) and understanding people in the context of their lives requires an investment of time.
Albert Einstein’s quote illustrates an important point about an encompassing approach to a problem: you must first “know” (and understand) the problem and that “knowing” requires a compassionate (the act of encircling or encompassing) perspective before you can “know’ (uncover) the solution. Without an encompassing perspective the view of the problem remains “flat” or one dimensional. Since the specific quality of knowledge of the problem from a broadened perspective directly influences the “quality of the solution” (Passuelloon, L., 2008), the act of “encircling or encompassing” a problem enables the viewer to see the “problem” from a ‘multi-dimensional’ perspective. Similar to Christopher Columbus’ profound desire to “know’ the world and his subsequent risk to travel to the “end” of his knowledge of the world, so do MFT’s, at the invitation of the client, travel beyond the boundaries of the MFT’s world (and their knowledge and experience of it) by joining their client’s journey into their client’s internal world (context) and consider the impact of all its influences (biological, psychological, relational, community and societal) (Nichols and Schwartz, 2008).
This redefined compassion does not overshadow the MFT or the client’s knowledge of him/herself, but strengthens his/her’s ability to “hold onto” him/herself by providing a theoretical anchor: differentiation (Nichols and Schwartz, 2008). This anchor then allows both the MFT and the client to use his/her perspective as a point of reference to launch his/her movement (growth). As the client’s exploration of his/her world increases, the knowledge of his/her world grows and expands as the compassionate MFT remains “in motion” fluid, flexible, “teachable” and present.
So in conclusion, although the field of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) has its “scientific body of knowledge, some relevant theory, a code of ethics, and some specific techniques” (Wilcoxon et al, 2007) to distinguish it as a separate and distinct profession, I believe it is the redefinition of compassion (the “act of encircling or encompassing”) that is the unique characteristic of MFTs that definitively distinguishes it from other mental health professions.
References
Nichols, M.P., Schwartz, R.C. (2008). Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods (8th edition.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Passuelloon, L. (2008, Nov. 4). Einstein’s secret to amazing problem solving (and 10 specific ways you can use it) [Litemind: Exploring ways to use our mind efficiently]. Retrieved from http://www.litemind.com/problem-definition/
Wilcoxon, S.A., Remley, T.P., Gladding, S.T., & Huber, C.H. (2007). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in the practice of marriage and family therapy (4th edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill Ed.
