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The presence of dysfunction and disconnect are some of the main reasons that people seek assistance in healing the family unit. The goal of family counseling is to assist families in working through challenges and struggles so that they might build stronger foundations and heal. A good therapist works towards helping the unit to foster cohesion and open lines of communication. Many clients’ problems and how they are handled tend to be influenced by the way the family operates. Family counseling serves many different purposes such as: improving couple or family relationships, families struggling with addiction, living with disabilities, living with mental illness, trauma or loss, and child behavior problems.
This paper will explore the topic of family counseling and how it helps people to deal with and overcome the struggles of life.
Family counseling differs from individual counseling because the perspective is different. It is a type of psychotherapy that teaches people how to cope. The sessions are usually short-term, but depending on the family’s situation, it could be prolonged.
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A counselor will avoid blaming clients or taking sides during sessions. A person should consider what traits make them feel comfortable with a counselor. For example, rather the counselor is male or female, younger or older, and from their cultural background. Although it would be more beneficial for all family members to attend therapy, it is not a necessity. Some members might not understand the purpose of counseling, or why it’s most effective whenever all family members attend.
Having all members of a unit to attend sessions is a method that helps the person struggling with life changes or mental health issues to adjust and cope.
People often find it difficult and unpleasant to share the most intimate and personal details of their lives with strangers. Contemporary family therapists believe that relationships within the family are good for mental stability. Therapy should be used to improve relationships and build communication skills between family members. The system of a family is defined by culture, race, gender, ethnicity, values, religious beliefs, and morals. Each of these components plays a significant role in the shaping and development of family members in the household. One might question what consists of a family unit, or if the members have to be blood-related.
A family unit can be made up of many elements such as parents, step-parents, siblings, step-children, foster children, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nannies, and whoever has a day-to-day interaction within the unit. Some people define the term family as being individuals to when you have the closest emotional connections, while others define it as individuals who share bloodlines. When starting therapy, the counselor should question the client as to what do they consider their family dynamic to be. Other concerns might include who holds the most important to you, and what long-term goals are you hoping to reach with the help of future sessions. It is essential to identify the roles of everyone providing emotional stability, financial support, maintains the household, and whoever has the strongest emotional bond with the client. During therapy, the counselor can help the family explore the strengths as well as the weaknesses of their relationships.
Family therapy often implements exercises and techniques from behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, interpersonal therapy, and other kinds of individual therapy. The types of treatments and techniques used are tailored to each client and their specific problems. The length of the client’s therapy depends on their financial and personal situations. Talking to a family counselor has so many therapeutic uses such as: healing pain from past experiences, learning how to handle emotions like anger, grief, or fear, building self-confidence, setting goals, changing patterns of behavior, and enhancing problem-solving skills. Most clients just simply like the sense of being heard, supported and understood. An unhealthy mental state can affect anyone regardless of age, income, gender, race, or health status. There are many misconceptions within society concerning good mental health and treatment. It is an ongoing internal battle for many people living with the stigma of mental illness in America. Many people suffer in silence due to factors such as humiliation, social rejection, and discrimination from their peers. For many years having a mental illness was believed to be a personal weakness, but now they can often be traced back to genetic factors.
There are three types of stigmas that may influence a client’s aspirations: label avoidance, self-stigma, and public stigma. A family therapist with the proper skill set can help a family survive the effects of a mental illness such as schizophrenia, but the individual with the illness must maintain a personalized treatment plan. Depression is another mental illness that is often addressed during family counseling sessions. Psychotherapy can help people learn to control or remove disturbing symptoms for a more enjoyable life. Counseling can help families learn different ways to overcome harmful patterns of relating to one another. Family counseling can have an essential effect a person experiencing major life adjustments. Loss and grief, low self-esteem, and different forms of abuse are all situations that can benefit from the use of therapy. Changes in life can bring on unavoidable stress, which is sometimes hard to process. Family counseling can be useful where children are concerned. A child may be having behavior issues at school or dealing with bullying from his or her peers.
Therapy allows the parents and children to start the dialogue for solutions. Counseling is used as a tool to assist therapists in addressing marital discord, divorce, separation, delinquency, and other relationship-related issues. In many homes, children are dealing with blended families. It is not always easy for an outsider to come in and find his or her place in a family routine. Some units have a hard time dealing with trauma or traumatic loss of a loved one. There is a wide range of traumatic experiences that might affect a family such as: natural disasters, moving to a new house, a physical injury, or the incarceration of a family member.
Addiction, also like mental health, can be address with family therapy. It will also require additional rehabilitation or treatment. Often the family will seek therapy, even if the person who is suffering from the addiction has not sought treatment. There are several types of family therapy, but the most common are Bowenian (Murrary Bowen), Structural (Salvador Minuchin), Systemic (Gianfranco Cecchin-Milan Model), and Strategic (Jay Haley). Bowenian therapy works best for clients who are uncomfortable with having other family members in the room. It uses the concepts of differentiation and triangulation. The differentiation concept teaches clients how to become less emotionally reactive in their family relationships. The triangulation concept involves the client’s tendency to bring in a third party to divert conflict or anxiety. Letter writing is used to improve the family connection and reduce levels of emotional reaction. Structural therapy focuses on reorganizing the family unit according to the roles and distribution of power among the members. The parents or caretakers of the home must work together as a unit and set boundaries for their children. The therapist strengthens sibling and adult relationships by making sure that no one person has more power than another family member. This kind of therapy allows some family members to stand behind a one-way glass so that the therapist can observe patterns of behavior between other family members. Systemic therapy focuses on the meaning behind family members’ actions and behaviors.
It is suitable for clients of all ages and can be used individually. The theory is that family interactions are occurring on an unconscious level. Although the therapist’s approach is seen as distant and neutral, he or she will address behaviors and rituals so that they might gain understanding and insight as to why problems are occurring. In this situation, family members feel like the unconscious “game” that they participate in has the power in the family. Strategic therapy is a brief and direct approach to therapy for people that want results in a quick amount of time. The family is given homework that is meant to change how the unit interacts with the person who is having issues or problems. Communication systems, coalitions, and hierarchies are addressed in the same manner as of other counseling approaches. The Strategic approach uses techniques such as prescribing the symptom to the family unit, and changing the family’s issues from an unconstructive one to a constructive one. The therapist takes authority from the dominant family member that controls family relations, and make it possible for the patterns of communication to change. Family counseling does not automatically fix family conflicts or make the unpleasant situation disappear. This paper pinpointed the importance of family counseling, and how effective it can be when the right therapist is chosen for assistance. The relationship with one’s self and others can become much happier once an initiative has been taken to correct unhealthy patterns. All circumstances will be considered by the therapist preparing treatment for the best course of action.
Therapeutic Perspective View of Family Counseling Family. (2021, Dec 31). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/therapeutic-perspective-view-of-family-counseling-family-essay
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