Q. What is Family Therapy?
A. Family therapy involves two or more members of a family. Often,
the entire family will come in to the therapists office together to discuss issues that cause tension or conflict between
family members.
Q. Are their several schools of family therapy?
A. Yes, several. However, many are closely related. I have been
trained in general systems theory as well as interactional family therapy. When I see families, I generally do not see them
as a whole every single time. I usually work with one member of the family and see the whole family on an as needed basis
when issues arise that demand family cooperation.
Q, What are the benefits of coming in as a family?
A. The most obvious benifit is that everyone in the family gets
their needs heard, and learns to more effectively interact with the other members. A less obvious benifit is that the 'identified
patient' learns to better understand the family system, and the manner in which their problems are closely connected with
the way this system operates. A typical challenge for the identified patient is to gradually change their role in the system.
The challenge for the parents and siblings is to gracefully allow for this change by learning to function in a healthier manner
themselves.
Q. What kinds of problems are best treated by seeing the family
together?
A. Some problems that can be effectively treated using family therapy
are: discipline problems in children, attentional problems in multiple family members and depression or anxiety that is exacerbated
by dysfunctional family dynamics .
Q. What if my child or spouse is unwilling to participate?
A. Having a spouse who does not want to participate, clearly does not
bode well for using family therapy as an approach. In this case, I would need to work with the child and only those family
members who are willing to make a committment to attend sessions. I would need to better understand your spouses unwillingness
to participate in order to decide whether to use this approach at all. If the child is unwilling to participate, then family
therapy is clearly NOT an option.
Q. Would you ever use family therapy when one of the parent's is
the identified patient?
A. Probably not, and especially not if they had young children.
It is important for children not to feel that they are in therapy to 'fix' a parent. I might see a patient's children on
occaission, but only in order to discuss difficulties that they are having themselves and of course,only with my patient's
consent.
There are many excellent books and articles on the benefits of this
very powerful form of treatment. One of the most important reasons to try this type of approach to treatment is that it takes
the stigma off of the identified patient and helps them to see that some of their issues are related to broader family dynamics
that can be altered over time. Whether or not to involve the family in therapy is an issue that we would need to discuss
in person, before a committment to use this approach is made.
If you think that your family would benifit from this type of approach,
please call for an initial consultation at 919-918-1014 or email me at createahealthymind@earthlink.net .
