Family Therapy? How family therapy helped me?

What is it?

Essentially it is a disorder of human relationships.

Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy and family systems therapy, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view these in terms of the systems of interaction between family members. It emphasizes family relationships as an important factor in psychological health. As such, family problems have been seen to arise as an emergent property of systemic interactions, rather than to be blamed on individual members. Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are the most specifically trained in this type of psychotherapy.

Family therapists may focus more on how patterns of interaction maintain the problem rather than trying to identify the cause, as this can be experienced as blaming by some families. It assumes that the family as a whole is larger than the sum of its parts. Family therapy may also be used to draw upon the strengths of a social network to help address a problem that may be completely externally caused rather than created or maintained by the family.

Family therapy practitioners come from a range of professional backgrounds, and some are specifically qualified or licensed/registered in family therapy (licensing is not required in some jurisdictions and requirements vary from place to place). In the UK and the US, family therapists are usually psychologists, nurses, psychotherapists, social workers, or counselors who have done further training in family therapy, either a diploma or an M.Sc.; however, in the U.S., there is a specific degree and license as a Marriage and Family therapist.

Family therapy has been used effectively where families, and or individuals in those families experience or suffer:

• serious psychological disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, conduct disorders, ADHD, addictions and eating disorders);
• interactional and transitional crises in a family’s life cycle (e.g. conflict, estrangement, divorce, child and adolescent issues);
• as a support of other psychotherapies and medication.