Family Therapy Techniques
Family systems approach to clinical psychology is based on effective family therapy techniques. The individual sees an extension of the family unit and that one cannot be treated to the exclusion of the other from which is approached from the family systems. Psychologists trained in marriage and family therapy recognize that an individual’s emotion, physical well-being and mental is embedded in the myriad of relationships that make up the individual’s life.
Child’s eating disorder can be both a result of familial expectations and a pressure on the family dynamic just as a husband’s depression can affect the wife and children. Short-term and long-term treatment options are done due to the effectiveness of family therapy techniques involving the entire family in the diagnosis of problems.
Observation
Equilibrium that is established by family units to protect the family unit can cause an imbalance for individual parts of the family. The family dynamic and monitor both verbal and non-verbal are being observed from the training of a clinical psychologist. The family systems psychologist will monitor how the parents interact with each other and how their children react to them during the assessment phase and initial interviews. Both subjective and objective forms are being compared by his or her observations with testing. The objective test data is gathered via clinical tests that family members are requested to fill out and return to the psychologist while the subjective test data is gathered during interview.
Offering psychologist to the first real window into the family dynamic is an effective observation for family therapy technique. He or she must get a base measurement of emotional balance and initial dysfunction, also the family’s interactions to make fair and accurate assessments by the psychologist. Family therapy may be recommended for any number of causes. For example, due to her husband’s unemployment and the economic pressure she is overcompensating to fulfill, and it’s revealed that a mother’s depression and need for anti-anxiety medication. The therapist needs as much data as possible to create an effective treatment plan for the family.
Lessons in Effective Communication
It stands to reason that dysfunction with one will affect the whole family, if each member of the family is interdependent on other members of the family. An important lesson that family systems psychologist incorporates into group and individual family therapy sessions are an Effective communication. Effective communication is required to all members of the group or family are in touch with each other to create an effective solution to any dysfunction or problem in the group.
A mother may stretch herself to the limits because she lacks the ability to communicate how stretched thin she is to commit more and more tasks in order to compensate for her family’s overextending commitments. Instead, when she cannot meet all the commitments she is making, she promises to do more and more exerting increasing emotional and mental stress upon herself. This leads to disagreement and disappointment in the family. When other members of the family express their disappointment, this will also impact her to damaged sense of self-worth leading to a vicious cycle that may result in generalized anxiety disorder, substance abuse, depression and more.
However, the family is not happy in any way. To let the family know she is overextended and that she either needs help or they need to rearrange priorities in order to break out of the circular causality of this family’s problem, therapists teach effective communication skills and the importance for mom.
Without lashing out or feeling obligated to resolve the problems being shared, effective communication allows a family to dialogue on their problems. A skill that must be learned is active listening residing a large portion of effective communication.
Problem solving
Requiring a willingness on the parts of all parties to contribute to the solution even though problem solving may seem like a common sense resolution. Not because it teaches family how to resolve the issue that brought them to see family system psychologist but problem solving is an effective therapy technique to teach them how to identify, develop plans and create resolutions for future problems.
Requiring effective communication, problem solving is a family therapy techniques that often comes later in therapy sessions as the therapist challenges family members to role-play situations previously deemed irresolvable. Each member is required to see that person’s point of view by actively role playing other members of the family. For example, parents play the part of the children or dad taking the role of mom to a child’s dad and a mom’s child. This will in fact lead to learn how to disagree in a positive and respectful manner and not allowing those disagreements to impede problem solving efforts.
Family Contracts
A therapeutic tool that allows families to negotiate terms and come to an agreement on how they want to handle future family problem and to commit to positive change is a family contract. For example, a family contract may detail that a child commits to talking about her feelings on weight, eating and social perception because they have an eating disorder. Her parents will then commit to not dismiss her feelings but instead listen. Both the child and parent commit to working together to build self-esteem and a healthy lifestyle.
Because they are facilitated agreement that a family makes to avoid future dysfunction, family contracts are a positive tool in the arsenal of a family systems psychologist. Helping recognize particularly if elements of the contract are not being upheld, the family contract also helps family members recognize when problems are occurring. Each family member is a part of and acknowledges that what affects one member of the member of the family affects the whole family which is why family therapy techniques that is effective treat the entire family as an emotional unit. The family also becomes a part of the solution by treating the whole family as a unit.
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