A Brief Guide to Family Psychological Services

From the time of birth till death, one is deeply influenced by one’s family. The family influences one’s habits, vocabulary, custom, rituals and the way in which one perceives the world. Being born to a family that has healthy relationships is a matter of luck and helps one to have a fruitful life.

But in case one is born into a dysfunctional family, one may fail in one’s connections with others. In such cases, there arises the need for family psychological services. The good news is that with such interventions, the family can regain and retain happiness. Family therapy aims to maintain or develop a functional, healthy family.

What is family therapy?

It is a form of treatment created to deal with specific issues impacting the health and functioning of a family. It is used for helping a family through a tough period, major transitions or behavioural, health or personality problems of family members.

This therapy borrows techniques from individual therapies like behaviour therapy, cognitive therapy and interpersonal therapy. Just like other forms of treatment, the use of techniques depends on the specific case.

Main types

Common types of family therapy include:

Bowenian

This is ideal when a patient doesn’t want to involve other family members and depends on triangulation (therapeutic discussion with 3rd party) and differentiation (becoming less reactive in family relationships).

Structural

It focuses on strengthening and adjusting the family system to give control to parents and to enable both children and parents to set boundaries. The therapist often joins the family for this intervention.

Systemic

It deals with unconscious meanings behind the behaviour of family members. The therapist is distant and neutral, enabling family members to deeply judge the various issues.

Strategic

This therapy is comparatively more direct and briefer. In this, the therapist allocates homework to the family. This aims to change the dynamics of interaction and communication within the family. The therapist assumes the position of power within the family.

Role of therapist

A family therapist takes up various roles. This requires adequate education and training. Though these factors can vary, the family therapist must have minimum prowess to address issues like:

Behaviour problems of adolescents and children

Anxiety and depression

Grieving

Domestic violence

LGBTQ issues

Marital conflicts

Infertility

Substance abuse

For gaining skills for such functions, a family therapist must acquire a bachelor’s degree in social work/ psychology/ counselling followed by additional qualifications like post-graduation in family or marriage therapy.

Such training helps the family therapist to handle issues like:

Unexpected unemployment, death or illness

Personal conflicts inside families or couples

Development and maintenance of romantic relationships

Children’s behavioural problems

Separation or divorce

Issues of mental health like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder etc.

Goals

In brief, the goal of a family therapist is to work together with the family to heal any psychological, emotional or mental problems that are tearing it apart. For guiding a family to a healthy life, family therapy aims to help people with communication, handling family issues, solving any problems within the family and developing a healthy family environment.

Family therapy can result in benefits like:

A superior understanding of family patterns, dynamics and healthy boundaries

Improved interpersonal communication

Enhanced problem solving

Reduction in conflicts and better skills of anger management

Deeper empathy among family members.

These are all some important facts about family psychological services.

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