As the tightest village, your family is a rich source of love, support, and fond memories. Your family also can be the source for conflict, as even the most beloved family member acts in a way that disrupts the tight bond formed within the village. How do you address conflict within your family?
The answer is by undergoing family therapy.
Family therapy represents a form of psychotherapy that provides support for families that need to improve how family members communicate and how they resolve inevitable conflicts. A licensed therapist conducts family therapy sessions and the therapist you take your family to for conflict resolution should be credentialed by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
The conflict resolution strategy implemented by your licensed therapist depends on your unique set of circumstances. All family members can attend family therapy sessions, as well as just the members of your family that want to participate in the sessions.
The Benefits of Family Therapy
Getting every family member into a room to resolve conflicts appears to be a difficult goal, but the rewards of attending family therapy sessions far outweigh the potential roadblocks. Family therapy is an often effective tool for mending broken relationships, which is the foundation for resolving conflicts. The broken relationships can be with a spouse, child, or close relatives. Addressing specific issues such as money problems and marital disagreements brings the family members together under the watchful eye of a trained and licensed family therapist.
Family therapy helps family members deal with a relative who suffers from a severe mental illness. The afflicted family member does not attend any sessions. Just the impacted family members attend to discover strategies on how to cope with the ups and downs presented by mental illness. Another benefit of attending family therapy sessions involves learning how to help a relative who suffers from one or more addictions.
You should consider family therapy to address any family conflict that generates strong emotions such as grief, stress, and anger.
What Your Family Should Expect
Although the goal of family therapy is to bring family members together, a relative has the option to attend individual child or adult therapy sessions. You can expect each session to last around one hour, with 12 sessions representing the average number of sessions required to resolve conflicts within a family
During family therapy sessions, you get the opportunity to express thoughts and emotions in a highly productive environment. The licensed therapist overseeing each session keeps the discussions on point, without any family members resorting to using emotionally charged language. You might discover new roles for certain family members, as well as learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each member of your family.
The Bottom Line
Family therapy is not a miracle cure for what ails your family. Instead, it is a proven strategy to help families resolve conflicts under the guidance of a trained and licensed therapist.
