What is family therapy
Family therapy is a form of talk therapy that focuses on the improvement of relationships among family members. It can also help treat specific mental health or behavioral conditions, such as substance use disorder or oppositional defiant disorder.
What issues can family therapy help fix?
-
Strained relationships between family members.
-
Stress.
-
Anger.
-
Communication issues.
-
Trauma (physical or emotional).
-
Coping with acute or chronic illness of a family member, such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, stroke, chronic pain or an autoimmune disease.
-
The death of a loved one and grief.
-
Divorce or romantic relationship issues.
-
Coping with sudden changes, such as unemployment, moving or incarceration.
-
Coping with mental health conditions:
Types of family therapy
Functional family therapy
Therapists most often use this type to help families with children who have behavioral issues.
Marriage counseling/couples therapy
This therapy involves you and your spouse or romantic partner.
Strategic family therapy
This is a short-term family therapy that focuses on making positive structural and behavioral changes in the family environment.
Structural family therapy
This type of therapy looks at the inner relationships, boundaries, and hierarchies within a family unit (its structure). It focuses on direct interactions among your family members as the primary way to bring about positive change.
Systemic family therapy
The foundation of systemic family therapy is considering the family’s issues in the different contexts in which they live.
Benefits of Family Therapy
-
Improving communication skills.
-
Providing skills for coping with challenging situations.
-
Offering new insight and understanding.
-
Identifying problem areas within the family.
-
Providing strategies for handling conflict.
-
Improving and strengthening relationships.