What Are The Benefits Of Family Therapy For Drug Addiction?
Family psychotherapy refers to a type of group therapy in which all clients are treated by at least one therapist. One of the most important works on family therapy says that family therapy can be identified using a variety of names to describe the relationships between the individuals and the group. These include marital therapy (marital partners), couples therapy(partners who may or not be married), systems treatment (where family members living together are included in the group), and many others.
Family therapy therapists can have backgrounds in any one of the major therapeutic schools, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or psychodynamic therapy.
Family Therapy Principles And Goals
Family therapy is a form of therapy that aims to identify and understand the relationship or family structure that affects the issue being addressed. Family therapy can be applied to substance abuse disorders. It is known that family therapy can have an impact on the structure and the processes in the family.
This type of approach has a few fundamental assumptions family therapists of different psychotherapy paradigms can use.
- Each member of a family system represents a separate individual who exists independently but also as part of the larger family unit. Personal experience can either add or subtract from the family’s coherence.
- A family is an identifiable and distinct entity that is composed of many individuals.
- Any issue that affects a single member of the family can have a significant impact on the whole family. Family issues will often affect every family member in varying ways.
- Certain issues can hurt the family system and its members. This could lead to disequilibrium within the family or even the creation of dysfunctional family relationships. These dysfunctional relationships could have the following possible consequences:
- Some family members may withdraw from the family unit.
- Family members begin to distrust each other
- Some family members are dishonest with their family members
- Secrets kept between family members
- Family members are not immune to the influence of other members of their families.
- Family members try to control the situation
These issues can lead to a dysfunctional family unit that is unable or unwilling to provide support and nurturing relationships for its members. Individuals with substance abuse disorders can cause tension within the family.
Family therapists are trained to help families restore harmony and bring them together to tackle the problem. Family members learn rationale and practical strategies to deal with specific issues.
Family Therapy: Advantages
Empirically, family therapy is effective in treating a variety of issues that were previously thought to be best dealt with in individual therapy. This includes the treatment of family members suffering from substance abuse, eating disorders, and personality disorders.
Family therapists aim to improve problem-solving skills within the family. They focus on honesty and acceptance among family members.
There are many well-known benefits to family therapy, including:
- Families with family members in crisis, or families who have been through a crisis together (e.g. the death of an important family member), can be helped to come together and resolve the problem.
- Family members that have not been trusted in the past should be encouraged to trust one another.
- Family issues such as stress and tension can be addressed to improve the functioning of the family and increase efficiency.
- In cases of isolation or apathy, creating a supportive family environment is important.
- Acceptance and forgiveness are key concepts
- Family members, who have conflicts with each other, disrupting the family unit, must be resolved. This has been ongoing.
