Family therapy helps families who are dealing with dysfunctional relationships, often revealed by the unhappiness of one member. What is family therapy? For which issues is it indicated? The answers of Chantal Diamante, psychotherapist.
The family is not always all beautiful and all rosy … Sometimes one of the members is in pain and brings to light family problems that were hitherto hidden or unacknowledged. This is where the family therapist comes in, whose role is to "allow a reorganization of intrafamilial ties”, Says Chantal Diamante.
What is family therapy?
The starting point of family therapy is usually the discomfort of one member, causing the group to dysfunction. “Most often, families come to see us because one of the children has psychological or behavioral problems such as depression, anorexia, scarifications, repeated running away, repeated conflicts with other family members, etc. ”, reports the psychotherapist.
The goal of family therapy is to start from this symptom, this individual discomfort, and to determine with the whole family what its origin is.
There are different types of family therapy:
- psychoanalytic family therapy. She emphasizes speaking. Each member of the family speaks freely during the sessions, "whoever has something to say says so”. Thanks to the different feelings expressed, the therapist helps the family to shed light on the unconscious mechanisms that govern their relationships and which are linked to problematic pasts that have never been resolved. The simple act of pinpointing the source of the problem helps to change behavior within the family because dysfunctions are better understood.
- systemic family therapy. In systemic family therapy, the therapist is not only an observer, he is also an actor. After identifying the problematic functioning patterns, the therapist helps the family develop new, healthier behaviors. It is based on exercises and communication tools (role plays, discussion around the genogram, etc.).
- cognitive behavioral family therapy. It focuses on the symptoms of the person who initiated the family therapy and aims to change the behavior (s) that affect them on a daily basis.
When to consider family therapy
Family therapy should be considered when several individual therapy consultations have failed to deliver the patient from his suffering because his problem is more systemic than individual.
The starting point is often the same: a child's suffering manifested by psychological disorders and abnormal behavior. As a result, the ill-being of one of the family members inevitably leads to the disruption of intra-family ties. A child who is not well can show this in different ways. “It can be eating disorders, violence at school or towards other siblings, scarification, running away, drug addiction, etc. ”, let Chantal Diamante know. These behaviors can follow important changes such as parental separation, death, or the departure of a child from the house. Through these problematic behaviors, the child may also want to tell his parents (or one of the two parents) that their relationships can no longer continue like this. This is a wake-up call. The child can indeed denounce a form of parental control, differences over education that he can no longer support between his father and mother or a secret too heavy to bear. “Becoming a parent can bring out past problems that have been buried over generations and that spill over into children. Unfortunately, parents sometimes repeat patterns they had as a child that are harmful to their own children. All of this is done unconsciously. Through his discomfort, the child is in fact telling his parent (s) that what happened to his ancestors is not his responsibility”, Develops the specialist.
How does family therapy work?
The therapist usually sees all family members during the sessions. If the parents are separated or divorced, sessions can be scheduled with only one of the two parents. “The frequency of the sessions depends on everyone's availability, it can be once a week, once every two weeks or once a month. A session lasts an average of one hour”.
In family therapy, the affected members are those living in the same household usually, so this may include the stepfather or stepmother. “Grandparents may be included in therapy if they are very involved in family life”, Explains Chantal Diamante.
Family therapy is generally brief, 5 to 6 sessions are sufficient. But it can be longer or shorter depending on the situation. The course of therapy also depends on the practices of each therapist (psychoanalytic, systemic, behavioral and cognitive).
The therapist is there to encourage each member of the family to express his feelings about the problems encountered. It frees speech and promotes communication between all. But above all, his support is often essential to identify the origin of the problem, which is often repressed.
How to become a family therapist?
Family therapy is carried out by psychologists, psychotherapists or psychiatrists who have received additional training in family therapy. Several training courses are offered in France depending on the different approaches (psychoanalytic, systemic, behavioral and cognitive). To learn more about family therapy training, here are some useful sites:
Source: thanks to Chantal Diamante, psychotherapist and president of the Ile-de-France Psychoanalytic Family Therapy Society (STFPIF).
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