Family Therapy -

Family Therapy

by Larry L. French, MA, LPC, LMFT

How is Family Therapy different from other types of therapy? Family Therapy helps individuals and families overcome dysfunctional or destructive patterns. This is done by making some changes in the family as a whole system. That means each family member has his or her way of interacting with each other. Some are healthy, while other family patterns are very unhealthy and cause a tremendous amount of pain. Additionally, each family member has a role he or she plays in the way the family communicates and interacts with one another.

A Family Therapist is trained in approaching counseling with individuals and families by looking at the family “system”. The counselor, in speaking with the family, makes an assessment of the family patterns, then a plan of action is developed to facilitate the needed changes that would improve the overall family functioning, as well as the individuals within in the family.

We have heard the saying “no man is an island” and that is so true. Each individual is impacted by the interactions we’ve had with those around us. And the “family” system with which we grow up has a significant influence on how we see and how we function in the world. A couple of other truths most of us are familiar with are “the sins of the parents are visited to the third and fourth generation” and “when one part of the family hurts, the whole body hurts”.

Some folks wonder, “My family is not around to work with, so how can I get better”? Others say, “Even if my family was around, I wouldn’t want to be in counseling with them”. The good news is that whether or not you and your family participate in therapy, when working with a “Family Therapist”, the counselor will see you and the challenges you face from the context of your family system. This would include how your immediate family impacted your life in the past and how that influence continues today. The goal of the therapy is to change these dysfunctional patterns of interaction to better ways of communicating and treating one another.