Family therapy is designed to help family members improve communication skills and resolve conflicts. Family therapy can be useful in any family situation that causes stress, grief, anger or conflict. It can help you and your family members understand one another better and learn coping skills to bring you closer together. Generally, our therapists will do a few family therapy sessions to supplement the individual therapy of a child or an adult. Family therapy is not couples counseling. If you are looking for couples counseling, please look at that specialty for a list of therapists that do couples counseling. To ensure you are getting the best care, therapist have set the same age limit requirements that they would have in individual counseling
Develop
Coping Skills
Coping skills are the mental, emotional, and behavioral tools that allow us to maintain focus and perspective when dealing with difficulties – and the strong feelings those difficulties create. As you develop healthy coping skills to deal with family members you will find you are triggered less and grow more resilient.
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Improve Communication
Developing good communication skills is critical for successful relationships, whether parent, child, spouse, or sibling relationship. When we feel heard, we are less angry, stressed, and more open to resolving problems than when we feel misunderstood. Consistent and high-quality communication is essential to create happy families.
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Resolve
Conflict
Conflict is inevitable among families. Families who peacefully resolve conflict may grow closer as they learn from one another and work hard to take one another’s feelings into consideration. When family members clearly identify a problem, they can begin to work on it. However, when people don’t acknowledge the problem, or avoid discussing it altogether, a successful resolution becomes impossible.
Family Counseling Advantages
Families are unique units of emotions. Parents and children have their wellbeing interwoven.
They support each other when things are going well and struggle to support each other when conflicts inevitably arise. These precious units are the greatest incubator of positive psychology that exists in the world, according to Lea Waters, Ph.D., author of The Strength Switch.
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When any family member struggles, the entire unit struggles. Proper communication leads to improvements in familial interactions. Building family resilience can be facilitated and nurtured in a counseling modality.
Emotions in families requiring counseling are often raw and deeply felt. Counseling sessions can assist families in processing ill feelings in an effort to create new pathways for family connection. Family counseling offers safe spaces for all family members to have their feelings heard and their needs met.
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Increasing health care costs have given new glimpses into the efficiency of treatment for mental health (Fals-Stewart, 2005). In one analysis, family therapy was found to be a highly effective and efficient way to treat mental health difficulties.
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Delivering counseling in a group setting is usually more cost-effective, and knowing that it also offers increased family cohesion makes it an empirically backed approach to treatment for many mental health struggles.
Increased empathy helps relationships in the family to flourish fully. Each family member’s ability to accept the emotional presentation of other family members allows for deeper understanding and connection. During the teen years, empathy does not always come easily. Stressing this in family counseling is helpful.
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Reduced conflict and improved management of anger can be a benefit of family counseling. Family counseling is utilized in combating a wide range of psychological disruption. With guidance, families can effectively navigate diagnoses and receive evidence-based approaches toward one another in a safe environment.
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Improvement in perceived familial support is an additional benefit of family counseling. Family members may believe that they are supporting each other from their perspectives, but when the messages are misperceived, dysfunction can arise. A supported environment where each party can speak specific and well-laid boundaries leads to deeper understanding and interconnection.
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This information was derived from an aritcle found at https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-counseling/
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