Biography of Virginia Satir (1916-1988)

Biography of Virginia Satir (1916-1988)

Virginia Satir's biography is impressive as soon as she keeps the story of a girl, and after a woman, who knew how to get to the point where she wanted, regardless of adversities. Many know Virginia Satir as a prominent American psychotherapist, especially for His proposal on the "change process model" that arose after their clinical studies.

In addition to psychotherapist, He also stood out for being the author of books that have marked a pattern within family therapy approaches. His best known works are: "Family therapy step by step", "In intimate contact: how to relate to oneself" and "new human relationships in the family nucleus". The change process model that Virginia Satir suggested has had a lot of recognition, in addition to having been transferred and applied to the organizational world to explain the relations of change that arise in this area.

Biography of Virginia Satir

In the biography of Virginia Satir there are facts that are amazing, such as having been a girl full of curiosity, who learned to read her early 3 years of age. However, Virginia, the eldest daughter of a family with four children, born in Wisconsin Neillsville, lived a fact that almost lost her life at 5 years. The little satir He got sick of appendicitis and his mother - Minnie Happe and strong Christian beliefs - refused to take her to the doctor.

"Famous phrases of Virginia Satir"

Oscar Alfred Reinnard Pagenkopf managed to impose himself on the will of his wife and take the girl to the doctor, but when this happened the Appendix of Virginia had broken. Although doctors were able to save Virginia's life, she had to remain hospitalized for several months in the hospital. However, Virginia Satir's life continued to be that of a girl who wanted to learn and to whom the rural school was not enough. Well, When I was 9 years old I had already read all the books of his school.

Virginia Satir, an outstanding girl

Virginia Satir's biography shows that, since the age of 5, she was already curious about the functioning of her family and this, later, was crucial in her role as a researcher. In 1929 Virginia's mother insisted on leaving where they were to go to a farm in Milwaukee and thus satir could study high school. This happened and Virginia was able to study high school, But, another fact coincided with it: the great depression.

To give financial support to his family, Virginia began working part -time, while trying to graduate as quickly as he could. So, in 1932 he obtained his high school diploma. Next, He registered at the State College of Teachers of Milwaukee And, in order to cover the expenses, he began working as a nanny and in an department store, simultaneously.

In 1936 Satir graduated with a master's degree in education, being the second of his class. The following years worked at a public school in Williams Bay, in which she first held office as a teacher and then as director, until becoming an educator who was traveling and worked in various places.

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The importance of the family, from Virginia Satir's vision

Rather than studying isolated, or patients individually, Satir commended his colleagues to take into account the family context of individuals. According to research, to satir there are nutritional families and disturbed or conflicting families and, using a scale, it is possible to position families at a point that goes from very nutritious to very disturbed.

For Virginia Satir, the family is andThe place where we can recover our breath and get new energies to better face the outside world. Therefore, so many people from families nothing nutritions would have difficulty facing reality.

The studies related to the biography of Virginia Satir also indicate that His postulates are based on communication theory, Being the most outstanding elements that Satir noticed as a family therapist the following:

  • The communication.
  • The self-esteem.
  • The rules.
  • To take risks.

Likewise, Virginia points out that Health is the strength and basis of human existence and is configured by 8 dimensions:

  1. Contextual
  2. Interactional
  3. Nutritional
  4. Sensory
  5. Emotional
  6. Intellectual
  7. Spiritual
  8. Physical

These elements are those that shape the Virginia Satir model and that they cannot be eluded when studying their life and contributions. Virginia Satir died in 1988, but not before leaving several publications that have inspired many people to be better human beings every day.

Bibliography:

  • Have, r. (2002). Virginia Satir: An Integrated, Humanistic Approach. Contemporary Family Therapy.
  • Have, r. (2011). Virginia Satir's Family Camp Experiment: An attempt Growth Community Still in Process. Contemporary Family Therapy.
  • Satir, v. (1987). Therapist Story. Journal of psychotherapy and the family.
  • Satir, v., Banmen, j., Gerber, J., & Gomori, M. (1991). The satir model: family Therapy and Beyond. In Science and Behavior Books, Inc.
  • Smith, s. M. (2010). The Satir Change Model. Blog Stephen M Smith Accelering Team Productivity.