Family Therapy FAQs
What is family systems therapy?
Do family systems therapists treat individuals?
Does research support the efficacy of family therapy?
What is family systems therapy?
Family systems therapy sees the person in the context of their multiple relationships, and facilitates healthy interactions to promote healing, satisfying relationships, and greater personal freedom. I chose to become a family systems therapist because I see reality as relational. I believe that it is through our interactions with each other and our environment that we grow, heal, and become all we can be.
Do family therapists treat individuals?
Yes. While family therapists work with families and couples, we also work with individuals. Our orientation, however, continues to be relational. It is through early, formative relationships that our human brains and personalities develop. And it is through relationship that we effect needed changes in our lives. The therapeutic relationship is a safe place to explore healthy change.
Does research support the efficacy of family therapy?
Yes. Research has found marriage and family therapy to be as, or more, effective than standard approaches for numerous mental health issues, including mood disorders (such as depression and anxiety), adult and adolescent alcoholism and drug abuse, children's conduct disorders, anorexia in young adult women, adult schizophrenia, childhood autism, chronic physical illness in adults and children, and marital conflict. For more information, go to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy website at: www.aamft.org