Family therapy
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Template:Globalize/USA Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy and family systems therapy, and earlier generally referred to as marriage therapy, is a branch of counseling that works with couples in intimate relationships and families. It tends to view these in terms of the systems of interaction between family members. It emphasizes family relationships as an important factor in psychological health. As such, family problems are seen to arise as an emergent property of systemic interactions, rather than to be blamed on individual members.
The goal of marriage and family therapy is to improve the quality of familial relationships, to address problems of intimate relationships and interpersonal relationships, of family dysfunction, to support the enhancement of the mental health of individuals in family systems and mediate disputes.
Family therapy practitioners come from a range of professional backgrounds, and some are specifically qualified or licenced/registered in family therapy (licensing is not required in some jurisdictions and requirements vary from place to place).
These include psychologists, social workers, counselors, psychotherapists and medicine, both general practitioners and psychiatrists.
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Founders and key influences
Some key developers of family therapy are:
- Nathan Ackerman (psychoanalytic)
- Gregory Bateson (cybernetics)
- Murray Bowen (systems theory)
- Milton Erickson
- James Framo (object relations theory)
- Jay Haley (communications)
- Walter Kempler (gestalt psychology)
- Salvador Minuchin (structural)
- Virginia Satir (communications and experiential}
Methodology
It uses a range of counseling and other techniques including:
A family therapist usually meets several members of the family at the same time ("conjoint family therapy" is used in the approach of Virginia Satir.) This has the advantage of making differences between the ways family members perceive mutual relations as well as interaction patterns in the session apparent both for the therapist and the family. These patterns frequently mirror habitual interaction patterns at home, even though the therapist is now incorporated into the family system. Therapy interventions usually focus on relationship patterns rather than on analyzing impulses of the unconscious mind or early childhood trauma of individuals as a Freudian therapist would do.
Family therapy is really a way of thinking, an epistemology rather than about how many people sit in the room with the therapist. Family therapists are relational therapists, they are interested in what goes between people rather than in people.
Depending on circumstances, a therapist may point out to the family interaction patterns that the family might have not noticed; or suggest different ways of responding to other family members. These changes in the way of responding may then trigger repercussions in the whole system, leading to a more satisfactory system state.
In the United States
Prior to 1999 in California, counselors who specialized in this area were called Marriage, Family and Child Counselors. Today, they are known as Marriage and Family Therapists, or, more commonly, MFTs. There are many career options for MFTs. They can work in private practice, in a clinical setting, such as a hospital or institution, or for a variety of counseling organizations.
MFTs are often confused with Clinical Social Workers, or CSWs. The primary difference in these two professions is that CSWs focus on social relationships in the community as a whole, while MFTs focus on relationships.
A master's degree is required to work as an MFT. Most commonly, MFTs will first earn a B.S. or B.A. degree in psychology, and then spend 2 to 3 years completing a program in specific areas of psychology relavent to marriage and family therapy. After graduation, prospective MFTs work as interns.
Requirements vary, but in most states about 3000 hours of supervised work as an intern is needed to sit for a licensing exam. MFTs must be licensed by the state to practice. Only after completing their education and internship and passing the state liscensing exam can they call themselves MFTs and work unsupervised.
See also
- Child abuse
- Domestic violence
- Family
- Interpersonal relationship
- Intimate relationship
- Marriage
- Relationships Australia