Family therapy

What is Family Therapy?

Family therapy encompasses a range of different methodologies that aim to incorporate family members into a person’s therapeutic treatment plan. Some of the reasons to consider family therapy might include:

Relationships: The interpersonal dynamics of a family play a central role in a person’s psychological and social development, their self-esteem, their communicative skills, and their interpersonal shortcomings. Resolving these problems may be part of a comprehensive treatment plan.
Causes: Parental involvement and influence may play a vital role in coping behaviors, such as substance use, and traumatic experiences. Family therapy may help uncover and address intergenerational trauma and uncover the part it plays in individual mental health issues.
Support: Family dynamics are important in the long-term management of mental health conditions, and family often act as the first and strongest pillar of support during and after treatment. Involving family can help give relatives a better understanding of what their loved one is going through, and what they need moving forward.

Hand of a professional family psychotherapist writing notes in front of a couple with a child in a blurred background during a consultation

Whether family therapy aims to address difficulties in communication and interpersonal relationship problems between family members or seeks to make use of strong familial ties to help bolster an individual mental health treatment plan, family therapy can be a powerful tool within any person’s long-term mental health management.

How Does Family Therapy Work?

Most forms of family therapy involve some form of talk therapy between a therapist, their client, and their client’s family members. Sometimes family therapy sessions involve multiple family members, and sometimes they just involve one family member.

Like other forms of therapy, family therapy introduces behavioral and psychodynamic techniques to help both clients and their families work on addressing or even identifying specific problems. Examples of common behavioral techniques include role-playing, modeling, or a guided conversation.

Types of Family Therapy

Family therapy frameworks range from deconstructing and analyzing the way each relationship within a family functions, to bringing your parents along on a therapy session to learn more about your diagnosis and treatment plan. Family therapy can include:

Family Systems Therapy

Family systems therapy, or systematic family therapy, focuses on generational, community, and cultural factors that affect a family, and considers that a family operates as a single unit, in that no single member of a family is left unaffected by something that affects others within the unit.

Elements within family systems therapy include the dynamics between different three-person relationships, levels of differentiation between members of a family, parents projecting problems onto their children or grandchildren, and the effects of compartmentalization (or emotional cutoff) on relationships within the family.

Marriage Counseling

Marriage counseling or couples therapy is a form of family therapy, usually only involving two people. During couples counseling, a therapist oversees the conversation between a married couple, suggests behavioral exercises, observes reactions and imbalances in power or expectation, and provides insights to help improve communication, and help both participants better understand each other and their needs and expectations within the relationship.

Family Psychoeducation

Family psychoeducation involves teaching family members about their loved one’s condition and treatment, and further expanding the family’s understanding of mental health, while improving their ability to offer support, and emphasizing elements such as self-care within the family.

Family Therapy at Resolutions

Making the decision to incorporate family therapy into your long-term treatment plan might not fix every problem you and your family have with each other, but it could be the first step towards healthier communication, better boundaries, and greater respect. Contact Resolutions to take that first step today.