There is mounting evidence to suggest that family therapy is one of the most beneficial types of counseling. A literature review conducted in 2018 found that family counseling and other family-based approaches, such as parent training and programs, are effective in treating a variety of conditions, including:
- Sleep, feeding, and attachment issues in infants.
- Recovery from the behavioral conditions brought on by child abuse and child neglect.
- Disordered eating.
In addition, research suggests that family therapy is beneficial for adolescents of either gender who are struggling with issues related to their mental health. After receiving therapy, the adolescents in this study reported having fewer internal and external problems. The authors of this study note this finding.
Parents reported feeling closer to their families and learning more effective parenting techniques as a result of the program. According to the findings of the study, however, female parents are more likely to find family counseling helpful than their male counterparts.
Some family counselors provide services in the client’s home or via the internet. These may provide a more comfortable environment for individuals’ families than office-based meetings. However, some households feel more comfortable receiving counseling in an outside setting.
Approaches to counseling families.
Functional family therapy
Typically, this is directed toward families who have a child or adolescent member who is struggling with a variety of complex emotional or behavioral issues.
The child can attend between 8 and 30 weekly sessions with their parents or other caregivers. The sessions will assist families in learning strategies to deal with the child’s behavior and will improve the functioning of the family as a whole.
Multisystemic therapy
This is done to address any behavioral and emotional issues that may be present in children and adolescents. Additionally, multisystemic therapy emphasizes more general concerns regarding the child’s behavior. For instance, the goal might be to enhance their interaction with social systems like schools or neighborhoods.
Transgenerational therapy
A therapist will examine interactions between different generations, such as those that take place between parents or other caregivers and their children. The purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of how previous responses to challenges have influenced the family’s current interactions or problems.
When problems and patterns of behavior are passed down from one generation to the next, transgenerational therapy can be helpful. Because past behavior is a reliable indicator of future behavior, this can also help in determining how problems may evolve in the foreseeable future.
Brief strategic family therapy
This therapy intends to alter the typical ways in which members of the family communicate with one another. It is an intervention with a limited time frame that focuses on family issues that can lead to problematic symptoms in children and adolescents. The majority of short-term strategic therapies for families will last from 12-16 sessions.
According to the findings of recent studies, this type of treatment is beneficial over the long term. The researchers concluded that brief strategic family therapy was more effective than the usual treatments (such as group therapy and parent training groups) at lowering the number of arrests and incarcerations, both in the short term and in the long term.
Structural therapy
Problems that are caused by the structure of the family can be managed through structural therapy. The end goal is to have a family hierarchy that is functional and well-balanced, with clear boundaries between each member of the family. The primary distinction between structural therapies and other approaches is the emphasis placed on structure rather than particular problematic behaviors.
