|
| |
|
Family Therapy
Family therapy is based on the basic belief
that individuals are shaped by the world in which they grow up. For the
majority of people, the single most important influence is family. In the
family, members are taught what kind of behavior is acceptable and how
people should interact with each other. For instance in an extreme example,
the child that grows up in a family that resolves conflicts through
non-aggressive talk has a very different idea of how to solve problems
compared to the child who watches adults physically beat one another.
In family therapy, the focus is not on the
individual. No one person is seen as "the problem," and there are no good
guys or bad guys. The goal is to understand the whole family - how family
members interact with each other and how each member contributes to the
overall family dynamic. For example, the 9-year-old girl, who's getting into
trouble at school, may look like the family problem. However, her acting out
may be a cry for attention to force her parents, who are working long hours,
to talk to each other and spend more time with the children. In this
situation, the goal of the family therapist is to point out what the
daughter is doing so the family can decide what needs to be done.
Family therapy can involve a range of family
members, depending on the issues and the families. Sessions may include
individuals, the couple, the children, or extended family members, such as
grandparents. By including different family members, the therapist not only
gets feedback from a variety of different perspectives, but is also able to
observe how members interact with each other and how their interactions
change depending on who is in the room. For example, a child may be fairly
quiet when she's in the room with her grandparents, but become very
talkative when her parents are included. Including the whole family in a
session can also reveal alliances between members. One parent, for example,
may tend to identify or side with the children, leaving the other parent on
the "outside" as the "bad guy" or disciplinarian.
Family therapy is often useful when children
or adolescents are having problems, when an adult family member has
significant psychological problems, or when families are transitioning to
another life cycle. For example, a couple who decides they're ready to have
children may find they have concerns about their ability to raise a child
given their own growing up experiences. In young families, couples can feel
isolated from each other as they focus more of their attention on their
children and give less time to the couple relationship. The issue of aging
parents, who develop a variety of health problems, can put tremendous stress
on a family's resources. In all of these examples, family therapy can help
identify how family dynamics are impacting on the overall health of the
individual members and create strategies on how to facilitate better
communication and necessary change.
Another benefit of family therapy is
uncovering family patterns. All families have patterns or traditions of
which they are often unaware. For example, there may be a strong tradition
of scapegoating, of identifying a member or group of members who others see
as causing too many problems. In one generation, the oldest child may be
labeled as the troublemaker and is subsequently rejected from family
gatherings. Each following generation may follow this pattern of singling
out a family member, who does not fit the family's expectations and is
therefore, rejected. The family therapist, who typically takes a thorough
history of the family, is often able to detect such patterns.
Many of the licensed psychologist at PFPA provide family therapy in their
work with clients.
|
|
