The third principle of BSFT is to plan interventions that are problem focused and targeted— that is, that target these repetitive maladaptive patterns of family interactions, while strengthening adaptive patterns of interaction (e.g., caregivers sharing their concerns about the daughter) that will achieve the caregivers’ goal of reducing the adolescent’s problematic
and risky behavior. BSFT interventions may attempt to change, for example, the way in which mother and grandmother attempt to establish rules and consequences for the adolescent, but fail because the adolescent disrupts the mother–grandmother discussion. Interactions become the target for intervention when they are directly linked to the
adolescent’s problem behaviors.