Family therapy is a form of intervention that focuses on improving relationships among family members. It is typically used by mental health experts to treat specific mental health or behavioral conditions. This therapy can involve any combination of family members, such as parents and their children, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends, kinship caregivers, etc.
This form of psychotherapy takes place with a trained, licensed mental health professional, such as a psychologist, counselor, or therapist—someone with specialized knowledge in working with families. If you or one of the members in your Arizona-based family is struggling with mental health or has a substance use disorder, you can join a family intervention program in Arizona to get effective results. But first, let’s understand the importance of family therapy in treating mental health problems.
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Why Choose Family Therapy for Mental Health Issues?
Family therapy is identified as a potential treatment option for a number of mental health conditions. The therapy is based on two principles:
- A dysfunctional family can worsen the mental health condition of a family member.
- Immediate family relationships are the strongest support system for an individual.
A family intervention program supervised by a mental health professional focuses on treating and molding the way families interact with members facing mental problems. By incorporating polygraph assessments, the program ensures honesty and transparency, fostering a deeper level of trust among family members. It helps strengthen the bond between family members and instills faith and confidence in the person dealing with mental issues. These measures play a crucial role in a person’s road to recovery.
What Issues Can You Fix Using Family Therapy?
As mentioned previously, professional family therapies can help improve familial relationships where a family member is struggling with mental health or has a substance use disorder. Let’s take a look at all the issues that family therapy can help fix:
- Stress
- Strained relationships between family members
- Communication issues
- Anger
- Trauma—physical or emotional
- Death of a loved one and grief related to that loss
- Coping with acute or chronic illness of a family member (cancer, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, etc.)
- Coping with sudden changes
- Divorce, separation, or issues in a romantic relationship
Family intervention plans can also be beneficial if a family member is struggling with any of the following mental health conditions:
- Eating disorders, such as anorexia
- Personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder
- Anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder
- Substance use disorder
- Schizophrenia
Family therapy can also be useful when there is a kid in the family who is experiencing the following issues:
- Difficulty expressing or communicating emotions
- Inconsistent parenting
- Conflicts between siblings
- Parents having marital problems
- Struggling to develop a functional and healthy relationship after parents got divorced
- Dealing with a chronic illness or death in the family
- Adapting to a major change
The Most Common Forms of Family Therapy
The choice of therapy type depends on the family’s unique needs and circumstances. Your healthcare provider may combine several elements from different therapeutic approaches to fulfill those unique needs. Some of the most common forms of family therapy are mentioned below:
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Functional Family Therapy (FFT)
If your family has a child with behavioral issues, your therapist may recommend this type of family therapy. In this therapy, the therapist tries to evaluate the family dynamics that have contributed to the problematic behavior in the child and works toward improving family communication and parenting skills to ensure positive reinforcement.
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Multisystemic Therapy
This type of family therapy also aims to address behavioral and emotional problems faced by children and adolescent family members. Your therapist will focus on broader issues with the child’s behavior. For instance, it could aim to boost their interaction with social systems, such as neighborhoods or schools.
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Structural Family Therapy
This family therapy analyzes the family dynamics, boundaries, and hierarchies within a family unit. It focuses on direct interactions among family members as the most important way to introduce positive change. Under the guidance of a therapist, families are expected to discover their own alternatives to problematic patterns or relating to each other.
Conclusion
Having a supportive family is a blessing. With family therapy, you can strengthen the bonds among the family members and help a family member struggling with mental health problems to recover from it and lead a quality life. Contact a therapist today to understand if your family needs such professional assistance.
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