The Importance of Being Siblings

Abstract

In family therapy traditionally we work with the complete family or with the subsystem of the parents. Sometimes this subsystem doesn’t collaborate or doesn’t exist so we need different resources than the “vertical roots” (Parents and Grandparents).

The siblings represent the “horizontal roots” and are the members of the family which usually live together or nearby for the longest period of the family life cycle (Parents go before, partners, spouses, and children arrive later).

After an overview of the literature on this subject, and particularly on siblings in the “normal family,” the author proposes two models of intervention for “high emotional access siblings” and “low emotional access siblings.” Both are based on the building of a “Mind of Siblings,” which is described. As with the whole family, also with this subsystem we can use new tools of the nonverbal active techniques. This allows a new kind of approach with a double agenda (explicit and implicit, narrative and experiential) much more effective because overcomes resistance. Results, limits, and counterindications are discussed.