Family therapy can be an excellent alternative for families who are experiencing times of conflict and disharmony. In this context, the family can be seen both in its nuclear structure - father, mother and children - as well as in its extended structure, including grandparents, cousins, sons-in-law, etc.
But how does family therapy work? That’s what we’ll explain in today’s post! Check it!
What is family therapy?
Family therapy is a group therapy in order to build and develop the dialogue between family members and thus assist in solving problems and achieving respectful, harmonious and healthy relationships.
What problems can be discussed in family therapy?
Conflicts of generation, drug use, alcoholism, disagreements about child rearing, depression, bulimia, anorexia, and several others may lead the family to seek help from the therapist.
In any case, these problems are seen only as reflections or consequences of disharmonious family relationships, these relationships being the main focus of therapy.
What are the goals of family therapy?
Among the main objectives of family therapy are:
- Promote self-knowledge on an individual and family level;
- Understand the importance of dialogue and respect for others;
- Recognize patterns that generate behaviors;
- Improve communication and relationships among family members;
- cUnderstand the role of each individual in the proper functioning of family dynamics;
- Increase personal responsibility;
- Favor constructive changes in order to harmonize the family environment.
What types of family therapy?
Like all therapeutic treatment, family therapy also has several schools and techniques that can direct the action of the therapist. The most common is the systemic school, followed by transgenerational, structural and strategic schools.
The systemic school sees family relationships as a system of interactions in which the family is taken as more than the sum of its parts and problems are consequences of failures in these interactions rather than individual errors.
The transgenerational school seeks in the past the repetitive and dysfunctional patterns that provoke conflictual relations in the present. Thus, there is a great focus on the structure of the whole family and the understanding of how each relationship occurs in that context.
The structural school seeks to change the positions of each element of the family in order to promote reflections and changes in daily experience. The strategic school has a more practical and limited approach to a specific problem in family dynamics, seeking to identify the patterns of interaction that provoke this conflict.
How is the family therapy session?
The sessions usually last on average 50 to 60 minutes and occur monthly. However, this varies according to the assessment of the therapist and the family. All the members invited to the session are arranged in chairs, organized in the form of a circle, in a comfortable and illuminated environment. The decor of the environment tends to be playful and contain toys to make children feel more comfortable.
At the end of the session it is common for the family to receive tasks to be carried out at home until the next consultation. At the beginning of the next session, each member is invited to summarize the progress of therapy to date and what changes have already been made.
Are there alternatives to family therapy?
If the family or any specific member has no interest in starting the therapy process completely, one can look for more practical and simple solutions that are often enough to solve the problem.
One of these possibilities is to seek psychological guidance, which can be done face-to-face or online, through quality professionals, in more objective sessions, which answer questions and advise the family about their immediate need.
Did you understand better how family therapy works? Any questions just leave us a comment!
