Disclaimer: This post was developed via a partnership with BetterHelp.
Families often go through a variety of challenges together, whether it’s dealing with financial issues, coping with a divorce, or moving across the country to a new city.
While many families have the tools, resources, and knowledge they need to get through these difficulties together, sometimes certain obstacles can create extra hardship, putting a strain on the group and leaving them wondering who to turn to.
When this happens, family therapy can be a valuable option to consider.
Keep reading to learn more about family therapy, including five signs that may indicate your family’s need for this unique therapeutic approach.
Family therapy is a type of talk therapy that teaches family members how to communicate, problem-solve, and understand one another while deepening their relationships. This approach differs from individual therapy, as the practitioner focuses on more than one person and understands problems in light of the patterns and behaviors of the entire group.
5 Signs Your Family Could Benefit From Family Therapy
There are numerous reasons a family may choose to attend therapy together. Five of the most common include:
- A Breakdown In Communication
When a family just can’t seem to get on the same page due to poor communication skills, it can lead to endless arguments, cycles of conflict, and regular tension without any solution.
With family therapy, an objective mediator can act as a guide, helping the family develop healthier communication skills and tools for emotional regulation.
This can allow them to have more productive conversations, leading to conflict resolution rather than dead ends.
- Grief Or Loss
Losing a beloved pet or family member can take an emotional toll on the entire family, particularly when the loss is sudden or unexpected.
With everyone experiencing grief at the same time and trying to cope in different ways, it can be challenging for members to offer one another support.
This can lead to hurt feelings, conflict, and even deeper pain during a tragic time.
A family therapist can help to address the entire group, equipping each person with coping strategies to avoid conflict and foster empathy and support.
Moving forward, each member of the family can learn how to hold space for one another while still honoring their own unique grieving process.
- Mental Health Concerns
When someone in the family is experiencing a serious mental health condition such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or addiction, it can be vital for everyone to learn more about the disorder and how they can offer support.
While it’s important for the individual with the disorder to seek individual support (going to therapy, taking medication, etc.), family therapy can provide the entire group with a safe space to address their concerns and questions.
The therapist can help the family develop a stronger understanding of the disorder, fostering higher levels of empathy and compassion.
- Family Changes
When major events like divorce or moving occur within a family, the dynamics of the entire unit can change, leaving its members feeling hurt, unsupported, or resentful.
Family therapy can help address these concerns by allowing each person to express their thoughts, feelings, and doubts about the situation.
The therapist can lead the family in open discussions, ensuring that each member feels heard and understood. This process can strengthen the family unit by promoting empathy and care, allowing them to move forward together.
- Parenting Problems
As rewarding as parenting can be, it can also be challenging, even for the most well-prepared individual.
Partners might have differing ideas of how they want to raise their children, causing conflict in their relationship.
Parents may also have trouble getting their kids to behave or experience difficulties in connecting with them.
Attending therapy can help everyone get to the root of the issue and find resolutions.
Parents can learn to understand their children’s perspectives, and children can develop greater respect for their parents. This can help their relationship thrive while still maintaining healthy boundaries.
Learning To Grow Together
When you bring multiple people together, there are bound to be differences in opinions, perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors.
Learning how to get along with one another can be a process, but it’s often one worth pursuing.
When family members come to understand that their differences are not what make them weak but what can make them strong, they can use it to their advantage to work and grow together.
Every family faces unique challenges, which means that every family may be able to benefit from attending therapy as a unit. In therapy, family members can uncover what they have in common, what makes them unique, and how they’d like to move forward as a group. The journey toward a cohesively functioning unit may take time and considerable effort, but the rewards that can come from family therapy can be limitless.