Family Counseling & Family Therapy

Family Counseling & Family Therapy

Family counseling and family therapy is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to reduce distress and conflict by improving the systems of interactions between family members. While family therapists often seek to have all family members (affected by the problem) in the room, that is not always possible or necessary. What distinguishes family therapy from individual counseling is its perspective or framework, not how many people are present at the therapy session. This type of counseling views problems as patterns or systems that need adjusting, as opposed to viewing problems as residing in the person, which is why family therapy is often referred to as a “strengths-based treatment.”

“Family” is defined by the modern family therapist as anyone who plays a long-term supportive role in one’s life, which may not mean blood relations or family members in the same household. Family relationships are viewed as important for good mental health, regardless of whether all family members are participating in the therapy. It is an ideal counseling method for helping family members adjust to an immediate family member struggling with an addiction, medical issue or mental health diagnosis. It is also recommended for improving communication and reducing conflict.

Some of the things that family therapists can help with are:

What Happens During Family Counseling & Family Therapy?

You may be wondering what happens during family counseling and family therapy. First, your therapist will talk to everyone in the family to help her understand what’s going on. She’ll ask questions about how each person views the problems, when the trouble started, and how the family has been trying to manage things so far.

Next, the therapist will work out a treatment plan. The goal is to improve conflicts in a family, not to blame anyone for the issues.

Your therapist will help family members communicate better, solve problems, and find new ways to work together. Family counseling and family therapy can’t always make a problem go away. But it can give family members new skills to get through difficult situations in healthier ways.

The goal of family counseling and family therapy is to help family members improve communication, solve family problems, understand and handle special family situations (for example, death, serious physical or mental illness, or child and adolescent issues), and create a better functioning home environment. For families with one member who has a serious physical or mental illness, family counseling and family therapy can educate families about the illness and work out problems associated with care of the family member.

For children and adolescents, family counseling and family therapy most often is used when the child or adolescent has a personality, anxiety , or mood disorder that impairs their family and social functioning, and when a step family is formed or begins having difficulties adjusting to the new family life. Families with members from a mixture of racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds, as well as families made up of same-sex couples who are raising children, may also benefit from family therapy.

Family counseling and family therapy doesn’t have to take a long time. The average is 5-20 sessions. How often you meet with a family therapist and how many sessions you’ll need will depend on the specific issues you focus on in therapy.