-small-thumbnail.jpg?v=1731071636)
Family therapy can be a helpful intervention for people experiencing mental health issues or substance use disorders and can improve recovery outcomes. Various types of family therapy techniques and approaches can be utilized, contributing to a range of improvements in family dynamics and well-being.
- Family therapy is a type of talk therapy that involves several family members or people living within the home.
- It can benefit people with mental health or substance use issues by improving mood and behavioral issues, recognizing and altering harmful actions and behaviors, and improving family communication and support networks.
- Various approaches can be used within family therapy, including psychodynamic, structural, and behavioral techniques.
What is family therapy?
Family therapy is a type of talk therapy or psychotherapy that involves more than one person from a family unit. It can help improve communication and interpersonal relationships and manage challenging emotions, behaviors, or circumstances. Any family member can be included, such as parents, children, siblings, caregivers, grandparents, or other friends or loved ones involved with the family. [1]
Family therapy can be used as the sole intervention or alongside other treatments and therapies. It can provide a safe space for family members to talk openly about their joint issues or personal issues that impact one another.
For example, it might be utilized when one member of the family is experiencing a mental health or substance use issue and the family wants to understand and support them. It might also be used when the family is experiencing a shared issue that they require support with, such as grief or conflict. [2]
Different techniques are used within family therapy and may depend on the purpose of the intervention. These techniques can help recognize and change unhealthy family dynamics, improve communication, and encourage a supportive environment within the home.
How family therapy differs from individual therapy
Family therapy differs from individual therapy, as it involves additional people alongside the person receiving treatment. Individual therapy tends to focus on the individual and their past experiences, emotional difficulties, and thoughts and behaviors.
In contrast, family therapy focuses more on the relationships within the home, how the family communicates, and how family members can support one another. Similar to individual therapy, family therapy uses a range of techniques, including behavioral and psychodynamic approaches. [2][3]
How family therapy supports addiction and mental health recovery
It is common for people to have a limited understanding of the causes and manifestations of mental health issues and addiction. This can lead to family members behaving or communicating in a way that negatively impacts the affected individual. Family therapy can help develop a deeper awareness and understanding of these issues, improving how family members interact with their loved ones and support their recovery. [1][4]
The individual might also impact family relationships with their harmful behaviors, potentially leading to feelings, such as anger, guilt, or fear. Family therapy provides an opportunity for these issues to be safely explored and allows all family members to express their thoughts and feelings in a supported and healthy way.
Improved communication and a healthier and more functional environment can help create strong support networks and protective factors. Support networks are often crucial to recovery and a healthy family dynamic can significantly influence the success of recovery, abstinence, and treatment retention. [2][5]
Common techniques and approaches in family therapy
Common techniques within family therapy include behavioral, psychodynamic, strategic, and structural approaches.
Behavioral techniques
Behavioral techniques, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can be an effective approach for family issues such as addiction, mood disorders, or children with conduct disorder. CBT helps families improve their problem-solving skills, recognizing and targeting harmful behaviors within individuals and the family dynamic. [5][6]
Psychodynamic techniques
Psychodynamic techniques explore the early life experiences of individuals and how these impact current behaviors and dynamics through conscious and unconscious processes. The therapist learns and explains the interpersonal family dynamics and helps family members develop new behavior patterns. [2]
Structural techniques
Therapists can use structural techniques to help family members develop boundaries and structure within the family unit. This approach can help create or restore balance, helping family members understand their individual roles and limits and how they relate to one another. [3][7]
Strategic techniques
Strategic techniques can be helpful for families who struggle to recognize harmful emotions or behaviors or have unsuccessfully implemented strategies in the past. The therapist gives clear and direct instructions for family members to create quick and effective changes and solutions. [7]
Key goals of family therapy
The key goals of family therapy often include: [1][2][3][4]
- Understanding the family dynamic and how experiences impact each person
- Recognizing and resolving conflicts
- Providing a safe space to share thoughts and feelings
- Helping family members understand one another
- Educating the family about mental health and substance use issues
- Teaching family members how to support a loved one going through treatment or managing a mental health or substance use issue
- Adapting communication styles to be more empathetic
- Understanding which behaviors or words might be triggering or unhelpful
- Teaching how to form and maintain boundaries
- Improving the home environment to become healthier and more functional
- Improving collaboration between families and healthcare professionals
- Developing coping strategies
Effectiveness and success rates of family therapy
Research shows that family therapy can be an effective intervention for various conditions and issues. For example:
- One study involving adolescents with mental health issues found improvements in parental efficacy and practices, with higher family cohesion, from the use of structural-strategic family therapy.
- One study of adolescents with behavior problems demonstrated positive outcomes at a 1-year follow-up after family therapy, including decreased delinquent behaviors and substance use.
- One review shows that involving families in substance use treatment with various types of family therapies can significantly reduce substance use, decrease behavioral problems, and improve family functioning.
- One review indicates that adults utilizing family therapy alone or alongside other treatments can see improvements in anxiety disorders, mood disorders, alcohol abuse, psychosexual problems, and relationship distress.
Factors influencing the effectiveness of family therapy
Family therapy may not be the most effective intervention for some people and certain factors can influence its effectiveness, including: [1][3][8]
- The therapist’s experience: Inexperienced therapists can have issues such as becoming too involved or too withdrawn as families communicate or direct their focus only on one individual.
- Which family members attend: If family members affected by issues do not attend therapy, it can impact the ability to effectively resolve or discuss matters.
- How openly people talk: One or more family members might be closed off and unwilling to discuss their feelings and experiences.
- Family or clinician beliefs: This might include the family’s cultural ideas about mental health, issues forming therapeutic relationships between the family and therapist, or biases that affect how the therapist perceives the family.
Starting family therapy: What to expect
Family therapy can be challenging and may bring up some difficult emotions and discussions, which can be explored and resolved as therapy continues. Families can expect to discuss how the individual’s mental health or substance use has affected them, be asked what they hope to achieve, and learn new skills, strategies, and communication styles that improve family functioning. [1]
The duration of family therapy will vary depending on the needs of the family, the type of therapy, and the severity of the issue. The therapist may provide a schedule for therapy sessions with an idea of how long sessions will continue, although this might change during treatment. [2]
Families should expect the therapist to be compassionate and competent, with experience in managing situations such as theirs. The therapist may provide instructions or advice for the home environment or additional treatment interventions. [1]
Choosing the right family therapist
When choosing a family therapist, it can be helpful to consider the following:
- Their experience
- Which techniques or approaches they utilize
- Which conditions or issues they typically treat
- Their qualifications and accreditations
- If they have experience working with children
- The cost and duration of treatment
-guide-detail.jpg?v=1722503307)
