Benefits of Family Therapy

In a society that promotes individuality, it is sometimes forgotten we are part of something larger than ourselves. We are part of a family. Each family is unique with it’s own structure and interactions. Families are powerful. They influence our beliefs, behaviors and even our personality.

Family therapy looks at the whole, not just the individual, to improve better family and individual functioning. Problems are addressed at the source, the family, by bringing parents and children together, of any age, to transform interactions and promote healing.

Family therapy has been used successfully to treat many different types of families in many different situations. Family therapy helps a family understand it’s behaviors, dynamics and roles in their unique family make-up. During sessions, a family therapist highlights how each member contributes to the problem in order to facilitate change and builds on the family’s strengths to help them solve the problem. There are many benefits in participating in family therapy. Family therapy can help with:

• Resolving family conflicts
• Reducing symptoms such as eating disorders, alcohol use, or other mental illnesses in one family member
• Healing emotional family wounds
• Deepening connections and improving relationships for the family as a whole or separate relationships such as siblings, parent/child or even in-laws
• Teaching coping and problem-solving skills
• Improving communication between members to facilitate understanding
• Reducing stress from changes created by a major family transition such as a death, divorce, re-marriage, aging, birth, illness, or location move.

Contributed by Therapist Staff