What Is Family Therapy?

Family therapy, also referred to as couples and family therapy or marriage and family therapy is a branch of psychotherapy. Family therapy works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. Family therapy aims to promote understanding and collaboration among family members in order to solve the problems of one or more individuals. In family therapy, you will uncover the source of the problem. You will learn to support the family members and work together on minimizing the issues that contribute to the problems. For example, this can be a child’s unwanted behavior, low self-esteem issues, or feelings of hopelessness.

As an adult, you may be wondering why would I bring my parents or family to family therapy? Sometimes we carry pain in the form of shame, depression, anxiety, or just a lack of joy in our lives. Many of us can seek out individual therapy to relieve ourselves from these unwanted burdens, but often, struggle. Until we have faced our past with our family members you still may face unwanted pain.

As a marriage and family therapist, there are a few different type of family systems we use in family therapy. Family systems approaches generally fall under the categories of structural, strategic, or intergenerational. Depending on which family therapist you choose, their approach to your family may be different.

Here at Jemal Doute’s Counseling we are dedicated to providing therapeutic assessments and treatment for children and families in Fayetteville, Ga.