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Family Counseling

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What is family counseling?

Family counseling, or family therapy, is a method to develop and maintain healthy and functional family relationships.

The goal is to identify and address problems in the family. These issues could be emotional, psychological, or behavioral.

Many approaches to family therapy stem from family systems theory. This suggests that families work in systems rather than groups of people who function independently of each other.

What is the difference between family therapy and family counseling?

The terms “family therapy” and “family counseling” are often interchangeable. Both usually involve talking to help individuals and families work through conflicts, barriers, or mental health issues.

However, a therapist may have different credentials than a counselor. Usually, a counselor requires only a bachelor’s degree and may provide general support to a client. A therapist requires a master’s degree and a license to practice.

Counselors typically work with people who have substance use disorders, for example. In most cases, a clinician doing family counseling will be a therapist.

Asking is the best way to know what kind of services a family mental health professional provides and their qualifications. During a meet and greet, families can ask about the specific counseling or psychological approach they take.

Therapists and counselors should also provide information about their education and license to practice.

What is the difference between family therapy and family counseling?

developing healthy boundaries
improving communication
defining someone’s role within the family
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providing strength and coping tools for family members
addressing dysfunctional interactions
improving the family’s problem-solving abilities

Types of family counseling

Some family counselors offer home visits or online sessions. These could provide families with more comfort than office-based meetings. However, other families may prefer counseling outside of the home environment.

There are several types of family counseling:

Functional family therapy

This typically focuses on families with a child or an adolescent with complex emotional or behavioral problems

The child and their parents or caregivers may attend 8–30 weekly sessions together. The sessions will help families learn strategies to deal with the child’s behavior and improve family functioning.

Multisystemic therapy

This aims to address any behavioral and emotional problems of children and adolescents.

Multisystemic therapy also focuses on broader issues with the child’s behavior. For example, it could aim to improve Trusted Source their interaction with social systems, such as schools or neighborhoods.

Transgenerational therapy

This involves a therapist examining interactions across generations, such as between parents or caregivers and children. The aim is to understand how past responses to challenges influence the family’s current interactions or problems.

Transgenerational therapy is useful when issues and behavior patterns persist across generations. Also, it may help predict how problems might develop in the future since past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior.

Brief strategic family therapy

This therapy aims to change the patterns of interaction between family members.

It is a time-limited intervention that targets family problems leading to problematic symptoms showing in youths. Most brief strategic family therapies will last 12-16 sessions.

The researchers found that brief strategic family therapy was more effective than treatment as usual, such as group therapy and parent training groups, at reducing arrests and incarceration in the short and long term.

Structural therapy

Structural therapy manages problems that arise due to the family structure. It aims to achieve Trusted Source a functioning and balanced family hierarchy with appropriate boundaries between members.

The key difference with structural therapies is the focus on structure rather than specific behaviors that cause problems.

Benefits of Family Therapy

Because this form of treatment addresses communication, family members can learn how to better share their thoughts and needs and resolve conflicts in a way that is less likely to damage relationships.

This type of therapy also focuses on how family members can address an individual family member’s difficulties. For example, if one family member has a mental health condition, family therapy can help alter some conditions that sometimes contribute to the problem.

When individuals are affected by mental illness, family members may sometimes lack awareness of how to help. As a result, they may engage in behaviors that maintain or even worsen aspects of the illness.1 Family therapy can help members of the family learn more about what they can do to support their family member who has a mental disorder while preserving their own mental well-being.

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