Pros and Cons of Common Techniques in Family Therapy

Family counseling is a kind of psychotherapy designed for families that may be having difficulties with a range of issues that impact the family as a whole. While there are many different family counseling strategies available, it's vital to remember that one of the most crucial aspects of treatment is choosing a therapist that the whole family can connect with.

Types of family therapy

There are several family counseling strategies available. Make sure to choose a therapist with expertise in the area of concern for your family when making your choice. While some therapists adhere to a single method, many opt for a more diverse approach. In order to best serve the requirements of a particular client, they may use exercises and viewpoints from a variety of therapeutic methods. When working with families, family therapists:

• Ask questions to learn more about each family member.
• Keep track of and record who is participating and who isn't communication patterns, and any apparent power dynamics.
• Consider the family therapy session as a miniature representation of how the family interacts both at home and outside of it.
• If necessary, diagnose the family members.
• Offer psychoeducation to assist family members in comprehending the circumstance or pattern. Offer valuable resources and recommendations.
• You may assign family members tasks to do at home or during treatment sessions.
• Visit with several family members or subgroups to gain a better understanding of the entire family.
• treats every member of the family as a customer.
• Inform the family of any harmful patterns or recurring behaviours you see and give them time to consider potential remedies. 

Therapy for Cognitive-Behavioral Families

According to the theory behind cognitive-behavioral family therapy, each family member's ideas, feelings, and actions have a cyclical effect on one another and produce unfavourable fundamental beliefs. Core beliefs might include unfavourable ideas that each family member has about themselves, both consciously and unconsciously. These fundamental principles interact with each person's cycle pattern and consequently influence how they connect with other family members. For instance:

• Sibling 1 (central conviction: I am alone): I'll prepare myself a snack because I'm hungry. Mood: unmoved
• Sibling 2 (fundamental tenet: I'm not loveable): Why didn't Sibling 1 prepare a snack for me as well? acting in a distant manner; Emotion: anger and upset
• Sibling 1: "It seems like Sibling 2 is unhappy, but she won't tell why." Conduct: Ignore them; Emotion: upset and lonely

This interactional pattern makes it clear that every sibling thinks and acts in a manner that supports their own negative fundamental beliefs. The therapist will help these siblings discover their unique patterns and make connections about how those patterns affect how they treat one another. Once problematic interactional patterns are recognised, it is possible to break them and replace them with more beneficial ones. This implies that it is possible to refute harmful fundamental ideas.

The Advantages of Family CBT

Family CBT benefits include:

• Each person strives for personal development as a way to support the family.
• Because it is solution-focused, therapy sessions may be short.
• The techniques taught in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may be applied to different aspects of life.
• Teach each member of the family how to be aware of their own actions, how their actions and thoughts affect their emotions, and how this affects other members of the family.
• Counselors are quite clear and helpful.

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Family CBT

• Each person must make a commitment to being honest and considering their own actions.
• There can be excessive homework for certain families (journaling, thought recording).
• not a thorough exploration of the emotional process.
• doesn't speak to more significant generational concerns.
• is really well organised.
• focuses primarily on quantifiable goals
• Counselors are quite clear and helpful.

Family Systemic Therapy

In systemic family therapy, a person's mental health diagnosis or harmful behaviour is seen as a symptom of the whole family, with family members unwittingly acting in a manner that permits this unhealthy pattern to persist. It is thought that altering the family's relationships, belief systems, and structure may improve everyone's health. For instance, if a kid is battling drug misuse, this is not seen as their own issue but rather as a symptom of a wider family issue that can only be resolved by the whole unit working together.

Family Systemic Therapy Pros

Systemic family treatment advantages:

• No one is ever held accountable, and no underlying cause of any issue has ever been directly identified.
• Since the whole family goes to treatment together, it becomes a shared experience.
• Rather than acting as an expert, the therapist acts as a catalyst for the family's own transformation.

The Drawbacks of Systemic Family Therapy

Negative aspects of systemic family therapy

• The strategy must be accepted by everyone for it to be effective. For instance, treatment will be more difficult if one person refuses to acknowledge that the family unit is sick and instead lays the responsibility on only one person.
• Everyone in the group must be open to taking part.
• The therapist is less direct and could ask family members to sit with their feelings.

Therapeutic family structure

Individual problems or mental health diagnoses are seen in structural family therapy as signs of a broken family system. By emphasising constructive communication and establishing appropriate boundaries, structural family therapy aims to change the whole family structure. to reposition both parents at the top of the family structure hierarchy, giving them both equal power as parents and more power than their children, for instance, if there are many children living with them and only one parent seems to be able to parent them well.

Structural family therapy: advantages and disadvantages

Positive aspects of structured family therapy

• The therapist is quite direct and will even change the balance of power by briefly supporting someone to make a point.
• It works effectively for families that have kids who are acting out in harmful ways.
• Challenge harmful family habits as a way to benefit everyone.
• Changes the family dynamic to make it more sustainable in the long run.
• Is beneficial for parents who believe they are having parenting difficulties.

Negative aspects of structured family therapy

• Use active interventions such as role-playing, which requires active participation from all participants and may be uncomfortable for some.
• A person could feel singled out or opposed by certain tactics.
• Up until restructuring occurs, there are weekly workshops, which might take a lot of time.

Effective family therapy

Instead of delving deeply into the issues, strategic family therapy emphasises targeted tactics to improve family communication and problem-solving. During strategic family therapy sessions, the therapist may initiate a discussion to help the family understand their problem and begin problem solving collectively. The present moment is often the main focus of strategic family therapy.

Arguments for and against strategic family therapy

• Advantages of tactical family therapy:                   
• A conviction that change can happen swiftly.
• The adjustments seem more natural since the therapists support change based on the family's own insight.
• Families may use these effective problem-solving techniques in the future.
• The therapist is quite blunt and often assigns tasks.

• Not a thorough examination of emotions.

Adverse effects of strategic family therapy:

• Goals for the family must be agreed upon and well articulated.
• Outside of therapy sessions, family members need to be involved.
• The therapist is quite blunt and often assigns tasks.
• not a thorough examination of emotions. 

Story-based therapy

In narrative therapy, problems that a family may be experiencing are processed and made external in a manner that enables each member to share their perspective. The use of narrative therapy helps families externalise their issues so that they are a little bit simpler to talk about. It also suggests that people and families have the power to rewrite their histories, transforming an unhealthy one into a more wholesome one. A family could claim, for instance, that they are distant relatives. A new, healthy narrative that more accurately captures who they are or aspire to be as a family will be created with the therapist's assistance as they externalise "distance" in order to process it. "Distance" is seen as a problem that had some applications but did not define them.

Story-based therapy Advantages of story therapy

• Enables each member of the family to tell their own tale.
• The family's story is seen by the therapist, which may be therapeutic.
• The family's history is regarded as a gold mine of insightful lessons, unrealized dreams, and untapped abilities.
• Problems are externalised and used as teaching tools.
• The therapist observes the clients' progress while gently guiding them.
• Assists families in showcasing their advantages.

Negative Effects of Narrative Therapy

Drawbacks of narrative therapy:

• Some families may not like a direct enough therapist.
• It might be challenging for families that do not like or feel uncomfortable taking the lead during the sessions.
• Depending on the family's speed, it might take a lot of time.
• It could seem like things are progressing slowly.

What drawbacks exist for family therapy?

While family therapy can be very beneficial for some families, it might not be effective for others. Families who are not fully committed to family therapy may find it difficult to experience lasting change. It's also possible that some families aren't prepared to explore the problems they are facing, and that's okay.

What Are Family Therapy's Three Objectives?

Although the objectives of family therapy will differ for every family, in general, some objectives may be:

• Make your family stronger.
• Improve your communication skills.
• Recognize acceptable interactional patterns (healthy problem solving, conflict resolution, and safe boundaries).

What Three Kinds of Therapy Are There?

The three forms of treatment are individual, couple, and family. There are many more than just three alternatives available when it comes to therapeutic procedures, but bear in mind that many therapists may employ an eclectic or integrative approach and combine different theoretical orientations based on the requirements of their clients. 

Which Methods Are Employed in Family Therapy?

Each family treatment strategy has advantages and disadvantages. Remember that choosing a family therapist that the family thinks they have a good connection is the most crucial aspect when it comes to forecasting a successful result.