FAMILY THERAPY
Is Your Family In Need Of Therapy?
Has your family reached a point where continuous conflict, division, and emotional turmoil seem unavoidable? As much as you strive for peace and resolution, are you unable to find common ground? Do you wish you had access to an impartial third party who could help you see things more objectively and guide your family toward cohesion, empathy, and well-being?
Perhaps your family is dealing with a significant life change that’s causing ongoing conflict more frequently, such as separation, divorce, remarriage, adoption, financial instability, illness, or death. Or maybe behavioral issues related to substance abuse or mental health negatively impact communication, which may lead to withdrawal and avoidance or name-calling, blaming, and arguments.
Scapegoating And Poor Boundaries May Exacerbate Your Issues
When problems arise that challenge your dynamics, you may notice how cracks in the family structure make reaching consensus more difficult. For example, generational or cultural differences regarding boundaries and communication styles could strain some relationships. If you are in a blended family, clashes over how the newly formed structure should look may be ongoing.
Rather than taking a step back to acknowledge how every member contributes to the overall dynamic, one or more of you may tend to scapegoat a particular family member as the source of the conflict. However, failing to recognize that their behavior is likely exacerbated by underlying dysfunction within the family keeps everyone stuck. If you don’t fix the problem at its root, nothing changes.
If your family is at an impasse and can’t move forward, therapy is a safe space to come together with a common goal of resolving conflict. In counseling, you can learn how to see things from each member’s unique perspective and find ways to nurture empathy, trust, and respect.
Family Dynamics Can Be Difficult To Navigate
The family unit is the ultimate social construct that provides what we most yearn for as humans—emotional security and a place of belonging. Nevertheless, family dynamics can be highly complex and challenging to navigate. Not only do we commonly experience generational divides that cause misunderstandings, but in today’s world, we encounter more divorces that can negatively affect children and blended families who may struggle to adapt and find consensus. Unfortunately, conflict and division within families are often exacerbated by generational trauma, substance abuse, and emotional dysregulation.
Family structure doesn’t follow any standard guidelines. Each new family must rely on each other to come together and develop its own unique way of organizing the roles and responsibilities its members will fulfill. However, when we come from different cultural backgrounds or have different values, agreeing on how to divide household duties, raise children, and set boundaries with extended family can be challenging.
Why Family Therapy Is Underutilized
Although seeing a psychotherapist has become more normalized and accepted in recent decades, family counseling is not as commonly sought out. Oftentimes, not everyone is on board with attending therapy because they believe only one or two family members need help. What’s more, older family members or those raised in more conservative cultures may frown upon discussing family matters with an outsider.
However, if everything you have tried so far to resolve conflict hasn’t worked, it’s time to take a new approach. In therapy, your counselor will be an unbiased outsider who offers an objective viewpoint to address complex issues such as ethnicity, multiculturalism, a family of origin, or step and blended family dynamics.
Therapy Can Help Your Family Bridge The Divide
When it comes to families, keeping the lines of communication open is critical. When communication fails and you can no longer resolve conflict without it leading to arguments, emotional blowups, and stalemates, it’s okay to admit that you need help. When members are committed to finding solutions, therapy will serve as a bridge that brings everyone back to common ground.
Therapy can help your family deal with a one-time challenge such as divorce, unemployment, chronic illness, or even the death of a family member. Additionally, counseling can address unresolved family conflicts and ongoing communication issues. Regardless of what your family is facing, therapy gives everyone a voice and encourages mutual support for one another.
What To Expect In Sessions
Above all else, your family therapist will be nonjudgmental and unbiased. Their goal is to help you explore the underlying family dynamics, patterns, perspectives, and emotions that drive conflict and discord. With a better understanding of your dynamics, they can recommend effective interventions tailored to your family's needs.
Because every family is different, how we structure therapy sessions will depend on your unique concerns. Generally, all family members will participate in every session together. However, as a group practice, Prospering Hope offers individual counseling for family members who may benefit from some private breakout sessions. Long-term goals will be guided by what each of you wants and needs within the family.
In Therapy, We Provide Your Family With Practical Tools For Improving Communication
With several well-trained family therapists on staff, we will customize our approach, pulling from a variety of modalities tailored to your needs. Family counseling may include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), narrative therapy, art therapy, and role-play exercises, as well as solution-focused and mindfulness-based interventions.
Additionally, therapy may incorporate communication exercises, boundary setting, and fair fight rules for families to promote healthy conflict resolution. These hands-on tools provide tangible guidelines for productive conversations, such as learning to attack the problem, not each other, ensuring you stick to one topic at a time, and setting a timer so that everyone gets a chance to talk without interruption. Learning to hold space for each other in times of crisis helps instill understanding and empathy, even when you may not see eye to eye.
Even though the problems facing your family may seem overwhelming, with open communication, active listening, and a willingness to work together, you can find ways to improve your relationships and navigate your challenges. Keeping your family whole and making it a priority is a decision you will never regret.
But Maybe You’re Not Sure If Therapy Is Right For Your Family…
What if I can’t get everyone in my family to agree to work with a counselor in therapy?
Understandably, getting everyone in your family to agree to come to therapy can be challenging, especially at first. If your family is in crisis, the last thing some members may want to do is air dirty laundry in front of a therapist in a counseling session. Or they may think the issue doesn’t involve them, scapegoating someone else as the culprit. However, for things to change, you have to start somewhere. We recommend that anyone willing to participate start attending therapy together and then apply what you learn back home.
How can we ensure family psychotherapy will be effective?
You have the power to make positive changes in your family dynamic when each of you actively participates in the process. Recognizing that an impartial counselor could benefit the family as a whole is the most important step. From there, you will learn how to resolve conflict equitably and listen to each other with compassion and empathy. With the right tools and support from a qualified therapist, you can build stronger, healthier relationships within your family that will last a lifetime.
Will discussing our problems in family therapy make things worse?
What I often tell my clients who are initially averse to family communication therapy is that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again but expecting different results. For dynamics to improve, you must be willing to try something different. Whether you have a blended family struggling to adjust or dealing with a difficult life transition, counseling provides you with the tools to communicate more fairly and equitably to find common ground.
Your Family Can Overcome Division And Discover Unity
Allow our team of experienced counselors to help your family restore cohesion and connection. For a free 15-minute consultation to find out more about Prospering Hope’s in-person and online family therapy or to schedule an appointment, please call us at 832-856-1807 or visit our contact page.
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/relationship-and-trauma-insights/202202/how-and-why-does-emotionally-focused-family-therapy
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