Hannah Grace
As a fundamental unit of society, family matters. The people you’ve lived with ever since you came into the world make you who you are. Aside from other factors, your family has a big impact on you and your life. This is why growing up in a dysfunctional household can create lasting problems you may carry for the rest of your life. Family therapy is a great way of dealing with many different family issues. Find out how:
Diving Deep
Nothing can truly be solved without getting to the heart of the matter. Psychotherapy works by uncovering roots and identifying patterns. For instance, passive-aggressive behavior starts from somewhere (e.g. miscommunication) before leading to unhelpful patterns. Family therapy helps you all examine your family members’ actions, relationship with each other, collective ability in resolving conflicts, and enables each of you to express thoughts or emotions more productively in a mature manner. Moreover, wounds are healed from the inside out just as it should be.
Proper Strategy
Because change doesn’t happen overnight, a plan is necessary. Family therapy pinpoints your family’s specific challenges and how you handle them together. Then, you discover new ways of interaction and of overcoming unhealthy patterns of relating to each other. With help from a therapist, you set individual and family goals and work on ways to achieve them. You can never go wrong with structure. Methods and exercises to be followed during and outside sessions may be introduced. Your therapist will discuss and figure everything out with you and your family throughout the whole treatment process. Indeed, success requires a good game plan.
Empowerment
Family therapy involves encouraging family members to take control. Everyone must work together while still knowing and doing their own part well. If parents lack authority and children lack respect, they need to do what’s needed to turn things around. With your therapist’s guidance, you and your family learn how to play an active role in dealing with issues, realizing that it’s the only way out. When harmony and confidence are present, the battle becomes a bit easier.
A father had divorced while his three daughters were between 7 and 11 years old. As they got into their teens they refused to see him – they so disliked his second wife, and no one pursued any real action to try to work through the issues. So the years went by, until the girls were all well into their late 30s – early 40s, when I received a call asking about family therapy.
We all worked together for some months, and in a relatively short time frame, the women’s desire to have their dad in their lives became a reality. Little by little, they also welcomed his second wife to join in on holidays, etc. This kind of case highlights how difficult it is for people to begin such a process, to talk together and move forward after many years, but with a therapist, there is safety and everyone gets heard,”
– Sharon Gilchrest O’Neill, Ed.S. (marriage and family therapist)
Family therapy is also perfect for families with a member who’s living with a mental health condition. It may even be a great first step if the loved one has yet to seek out professional help. Overall, you and your family can go through family therapy in the event of any family situation that causes stress, anger, grief, conflict, and other difficulties.
Psychotherapy is a sure way of solving mental health-related problems. Aside from ushering you towards recovery, it helps you learn how to manage well enough for you to function and still be able to live a fulfilling life. Family therapy not only enables your family to overcome issues, it also brings you closer. You understand each other better and learn coping skills together, which make you more prepared to face challenges that come your way. Nonetheless, there are no shortcuts to a real lasting solution. Combined effort, patience, and commitment–these make family therapy truly effective.
Can you relate? Share your thoughts below. We’d love to hear them!
