What is family therapy?
Family therapy helps families resolve conflicts and strengthen their relationships. It is led by qualified mental health professionals like psychologists, licensed professional counselors (LPCs), and licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) who have extensive training in family dynamics and group communication.
How does family therapy work?
Thriveworks family therapists in Houston, TX usually begin by asking what everyone’s goals are for family counseling. Family members may need help with very specific issues or with general relationship functioning. But there are three main purposes in family counseling: to educate, to counsel, and to strengthen. Thriveworks also offers online family therapy and in-person services, so you may all meet in an office together or join a video call from your home depending on everyone’s location and availability.
What is the most effective family therapy?
The most effective form of Family therapy will often depend on the family itself, as there are many types of family therapy for therapists to use as they see fit in order to best meet the needs of their clients. However, one of the most commonly used types of family therapy is structural family therapy (SFT). SFT focuses specifically on family dynamics and interactions, looking at how they shape the relationships and structure present in the family. It can be effectively used to treat a variety of concerns.
How do I know if my family needs therapy?
This answer often looks different to each family that starts family therapy. However, some signs that your family might need to consider family counseling include frequent fights or misunderstandings, constant tension, experiencing loss, behavioral issues, marital issues, divorce, and blended family issues, among others.
What is included in family therapy?
In family therapy, therapists will often start by asking questions and assessing individual and family dynamics. From there, they may employ therapeutic techniques such as structured family therapy, CBT, strategic family therapy, and more depending on the present concerns and conflicts. From there, a therapist will work to open lines of communication between family members and facilitate emotional healing and growth.
What is the success rate of family therapy?
Family therapy can be incredibly successful, with some studies reporting a success rate of almost 90% for improving participants’ emotional and mental health, and around 66% for improving their physical health.
Is family therapy conducted in person or online?
Thriveworks therapists in Houston, TX offer both online family therapy and in-person family therapy. We encourage you to choose the option that works best for you.
How long does family therapy last?
Family therapy is usually short term and solution-focused, with most families accomplishing their goals in 12 sessions or fewer. However, it can also last for longer if the probles at hand are more complex — and that’s okay, too.
Need more help deciding?
People often say that stable families are the bedrock of mainstream society, and perhaps they are. Turmoil in the home doesn’t always spill out into personal life, though sometimes it can. Family instability and mayhem are not always anyone’s fault. It can come about by all kinds of conditions and events; things that can affect the best of us at the worst of times.
People who have an unhappy home life are usually unhappy in other areas of their life too. They may put on a brave face, but deep down they’re not having a lot of fun. In situations where a household cannot settle their differences, perhaps family counseling can help. Family therapists have been working with troubled families for generations, and with good results in many cases.
If your family might benefit from a professional’s caring intervention, consider reaching out to Thriveworks Counseling in Houston, Texas. Our team would be happy to set you up with a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and we can get started as soon as today. Call our office to schedule your first family counseling session.
Types of Family Therapy
Family counseling is a division of psychiatric therapy. It’s one of a number of approaches that work closely with families and couples in intimate relationships. The systemic model is the most widely performed for addressing family issues, but therapists do use other models too. What model is right depends on the situation and the therapist.
A lot of family problems materialize as a result of disruptive behavior of an individual or a group. What a family therapist does is step back to look for the root cause of the problem. For example:
- When is the family member or family members most likely to be disruptive?
- What or who is making them act the way they do?
- When did these relationship difficulties start and what events played a part in it?
There are many other questions, but this gives you some idea of the path a therapist follows. Regarding the second point above, there could be underlying physical or mental conditions that trigger disruptive behaviors. Some of these could be:
- Addictive behaviors (alcohol and drug abuse)
- ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder)
- Behavioral disorders (delinquency problems)
- Schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions
- Various eating disorders
These are just a few examples but you can see how potentially complex family issues can be.
Schedule Family Therapy at Thriveworks Counseling in Houston
If you think you may need some help with your own family, call our Houston, TX office today to make an initial appointment. Our providers are here to help their clients improve and maintain their mental health. A huge part of this work involves improving and maintaining the health of our relationships.
