Family therapy

If communication in the family is no longer right and conflicts pile up, a Family therapy be useful. Whether problems in bringing up a child or a conflict between the parents trigger stress at home. An experienced therapist can unravel the spiral of disappointments and work with the family to find possible solutions.

What is family therapy?

The family is viewed by family therapists as a social system due to the common life situation and history and is at the center of psychological intervention.

Family therapy is a psychological procedure to uncover and solve problems between individual members of a family. If individual family members suffer from illnesses due to tense relationships within the family, family therapy also serves to heal these psychologically related complaints. In the sessions, the therapist seeks positive changes in behavior between members. It is made clear to them that the family system can only work if everyone shows understanding and respect for the other. This acceptance of the other members should also be reflected on the communicative level.

Function, effect & goals

Family therapy can be an appropriate method when individual members have mental disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. Family therapeutic treatments are particularly common in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Family therapists assume that the healing of an eating disordered child is more effective if the parents are involved in the therapy and that the person affected will relapse less often. However, therapy can also be the solution for children with AD (H) S symptoms (attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder) or those who are otherwise perceived as difficult. The same applies to depressive states of a family member or to experiences of dependence or violence. But even if the parents separate, it can be helpful for the family to come to terms with the conflict.

Often the entire family also suffers from the conflicts that seem to affect the partners alone. In the event of infidelity or underlying misunderstandings between the parents, family therapy can also lead to success. But how does family therapy work? What methods does the therapist use to achieve his goals? A family therapist sees the family as a system in which the interactions between family members are of great importance. He starts with these interactions. In conversations with the members, he approaches the core of the underlying problem and points out problematic behavior.

He gives suggestions and helps the family to work out solutions in the form of alternative courses of action. The goal is to work through and overcome social conflicts. This should improve communication both in the partnership and in the family. It is important to develop strategies with which daily stressful situations can be better managed. The therapy aims to ensure that the people involved understand incorrect behavior.

This means that the therapy participants look at themselves critically and, if necessary, have to abandon certain negative behaviors that put a strain on family life. In family therapy, three methods are distinguished. Psychoanalytic, humanistic and systemic therapy. In the case of the psychoanalytic method, researchers assume that mental illnesses result from problematic family relationships that can also originate from previous generations. The therapist analyzes the interactions between family members and the defense structures of the individual family members.

With the humanistic therapy method, the focus of the treatment is on the experience of those affected in the here and now. The so-called family constellation is used. Metaphors, trance, mediation and family sculptures are used here. These figures represent individual family members and an attempt is made to recognize and revise behavioral patterns with these sculptures. Systemic family therapy, which is widespread today, combines elements of both currents.

In addition to these basics for dealing with family conflicts, methods of communication psychology are also used in the session. Here, those involved practice non-violent communication, conflict management and de-escalation strategies. Who offers family therapy? Above all, psychotherapists and psychologists should be mentioned here. Families can also find support from institutional providers, for example in the educational counseling centers.

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Risks, side effects & dangers

As far as the family constellation is concerned, many therapeutic successes have already been achieved. Especially in the treatment of mentally ill children, for whom the behavior of the parents played a role in the development of the disease. In most cases, the therapy is free of side effects or low-risk.

However, there are also critical voices who see the family constellation as a threat to the participants. In order for the consequences for them to remain manageable, it is necessary to get involved with an experienced, well-trained psychotherapist. Healers with poor training and strong esoteric traits can do more harm than good. Normal side effects of family therapy can be: aggression against individual family members, autoaggression, depressive moods.

Then it is important that the therapist uses his expertise to catch the patient and soften their aggressions or other strong emotions. If necessary, a session must be terminated. A good therapist must reckon with the fact that the findings of a constellation represent an enormous burden for the individual patient and can trigger negative psychological reactions. However, if the patient is persuaded to be guilty of a serious physical illness that is alleged to have arisen as a result of incorrect behavior towards the conflict partner, this person should definitely turn to another therapist.

Because: The aim of family therapy should be to help people to follow the right path for them and not to make them dependent on the extremist teachings of an individual. The patient should always remain autonomous in his decision and not be manipulated. If the guilt complex is persuaded by bad therapists, there is a risk of acute suicide. It is therefore important to choose a therapist who works with gentler treatment methods.