According to recent surveys, mental health is affected due to COVID-19. Not just does the COVID-19 itself disturb healthy minds, but there are so many other reasons associated with it. When you are physically ill, you visit a physician or healthcare professional to get the treatment. In case of mental issues, you should also visit a related healthcare professional like a psychologist or a mental therapist. There are multiple cases reported worldwide of depression, anxiety, and suicide. It further added to the percentage of divorces as well due to not having mental compatibility anymore. Isn’t it dangerous for family life? Even a single depressed person at your house can pollute the healthy, loving, and caring environment of the house. So, you should get them the mental treatment required.
Defining Family Therapy
Have you heard of family therapy? If you are unfamiliar with this term, then you should say yes to Family counseling. Both terms are used for the same meaning and purpose – addressing psycho-behavioral and emotional problems of individuals that may lead to family issues. Including the affected individual, all the family members will cooperate with the therapist to improve family relationship health.
Family counseling is a therapy form that is aimed at addressing family issues using interpersonal strategies. The core concept or agenda is that individual problems need to be addressed in the context of their impact on the family. The therapist may ask you to modify the interaction pattern as it is a big supplement to family therapy. It can be implemented in any case, irrespective of the size of a family. Why it is simply not denoted as a mental therapy? It can differentiate from other types of therapies or counseling based on the scope and perspective adopted to examine interactions.
Invest in family therapy
As technology and knowledge advanced, the terms and definitions also evolved to occupy the most concept. Similarly, the definition of a family evolved multiple times in history. The most recent, advanced definition provided by therapists says that family includes any individual who is in a long-term relationship and playing a supportive role in a person’s life. These relationships are given the most importance, and thence therapy helps maintain the essence of a true relationship in the context of drug abuse, mental illnesses, medical issues, or any other issue of life.
AAMFT guidelines suggest that there should be 12 sessions of family therapy. In some cases, there may be a need for more sessions and may exceed a count of 50 sessions as well. During the therapy, the individuals start reporting emotional improvements. Let’s discuss the therapy models briefly before discussing the reasons why you should invest in family therapy.
Family Therapy Models
Therapists are officially certified individuals that can carry out family therapy and hence don’t seek roadside individuals for help. There exist multiple kinds of family therapies. These include;
- Bowenian Family Therapy – no 3rd party involvement and suggested for cases of anxiety and stress. The family relationship strengthening techniques includes writing letters to family members.
- Systemic Family Therapy involves studying the behavior aggravating factors, including both conscious and subconscious factors. Here, the therapist is a neutral unit while multiple parties take part in different behaviors.
- Salvador Minuchin’s Family Therapy focuses on assessing the power structures within a family. Parental roles are discussed, and hence parents are requested to assess their power roles against the family. They may also learn how to deal with the children. Here, the therapist focuses that no individual gains excessively negative power.
- Jan Haley’s Family Therapy is a straightforward therapy strategy where individuals have the right to say yes or no. It is usually chosen if the client wants short-term therapy. To maintain the efficacy of the therapy, the client is assigned homework tasks as well that are carried out in the time other than a therapy session. The first objective of this therapy is to identify the symptoms affecting family relationships. In simple words, it is an approach to changing a negative thought or action onto a positive pathway.
- Intergenerational family therapy involves understanding the effects on the current generation by the early generation of a family. It also reviews the patterns associated with generational dynamics within a family.
Reasons why to invest in family therapy
Well, the whole content of the blog addresses the need for family therapy, but here are the main points to consider;
- Family Therapy is required if you want to develop healthy boundaries between family members.
- It helps improve family members’ communication.
- Through family therapy, the roles of individuals can be defined and learned.
- Family Therapy may also help you to improve family dynamics and relationships.
- A family therapist may address the dysfunctional interactions.
- Family Therapy can also improve a family’s problem-solving ability.
You should invest in family therapy if your children have any of the following issues;
- Depression and anxiety
- Offensive behavior
- Substance Abuse
- Behavioral disorders
Take the help of the therapist
If you acknowledge the need for family therapy, you should find the best nearby therapist early. Family relationships are important and you should not waste time thinking that time will heal everything. Let it be a funeral that affected one of the family members badly. Would it be affordable to bear the sad face of a person who was once a lively personality? You can take help from Decade2Connect if you want family therapy services. It is a non-profit organization that is determined to improve the family relationships of people from Colorado. Both parents and children are eligible to avail their services. It is the best choice because the therapist takes every case personally and evaluates it in the context of personal reflections and experiences.
Take Away!
Where family health is important, their family relationships are as well. No one likes losing family bonding, but subsequent scenarios lead to the worst experiences. When you start experiencing any family issue, you should analyze the situation immediately. If you find a need for family therapy, then knock at the professionals and get an appointment. You should be cautious while choosing the therapist as a wrong selection can worsen the outcomes.
