Final answer:
Experiential family therapy primarily emphasizes role playing, allowing family members to express emotions and understand each other's perspectives, thus improving family dynamics.
Step-by-step explanation:
The major emphasis of experiential family therapy is on role playing. This approach to therapy involves the family members engaging in various exercises that allow them to enact different scenarios. By acting out these scenarios, individuals can express and explore their emotions within the context of the family dynamics. Experiential therapists believe that role playing enables family members to experience and understand each other's perspectives, leading to healthier communication patterns and emotional healing.
In contrast, cognitive restructuring is typically associated with cognitive-behavioral therapy, where the focus is on changing negative thought patterns. Structural intervention is a term more closely related to structural family therapy, which aims to alter the family's structure to improve interactions. Finally, communication patterns can be a focus across various types of family therapy, but they are not the primary emphasis of experiential family therapy.