What is family therapy?
Family therapy helps families resolve conflicts and strengthen their relationships. It is led by qualified mental health professionals like psychologists, licensed professional counselors (LPCs), and licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) who have extensive training in family dynamics and group communication.
How does family therapy work?
Thriveworks family therapists in Corpus Christi, TX usually begin by asking what everyone’s goals are for family counseling. Family members may need help with very specific issues or with general relationship functioning. But there are three main purposes in family counseling: to educate, to counsel, and to strengthen. Thriveworks also offers online family therapy and in-person services, so you may all meet in an office together or join a video call from your home depending on everyone’s location and availability.
What is the most effective family therapy?
The most effective form of Family therapy will often depend on the family itself, as there are many types of family therapy for therapists to use as they see fit in order to best meet the needs of their clients. However, one of the most commonly used types of family therapy is structural family therapy (SFT). SFT focuses specifically on family dynamics and interactions, looking at how they shape the relationships and structure present in the family. It can be effectively used to treat a variety of concerns.
How do I know if my family needs therapy?
This answer often looks different to each family that starts family therapy. However, some signs that your family might need to consider family counseling include frequent fights or misunderstandings, constant tension, experiencing loss, behavioral issues, marital issues, divorce, and blended family issues, among others.
What is included in family therapy?
In family therapy, therapists will often start by asking questions and assessing individual and family dynamics. From there, they may employ therapeutic techniques such as structured family therapy, CBT, strategic family therapy, and more depending on the present concerns and conflicts. From there, a therapist will work to open lines of communication between family members and facilitate emotional healing and growth.
What is the success rate of family therapy?
Family therapy can be incredibly successful, with some studies reporting a success rate of almost 90% for improving participants’ emotional and mental health, and around 66% for improving their physical health.
Is family therapy conducted in person or online?
Thriveworks therapists in Corpus Christi, TX offer both online family therapy and in-person family therapy. We encourage you to choose the option that works best for you.
How long does family therapy last?
Family therapy is usually short term and solution-focused, with most families accomplishing their goals in 12 sessions or fewer. However, it can also last for longer if the probles at hand are more complex — and that’s okay, too.
Need more help deciding?
The German writer Friedrich Schiller once wrote, “It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” You can be a family with people who aren’t related to you by blood. It’s not the blood relationship that matters, but the enduring feelings of love, loyalty, and trust. Not to mention the difficulty! Family relationships can be hard to navigate. Everyone is an individual, but you also need to function as a whole. Family members squabble, brawl, hold grudges, and get estranged from each other. But the psychological rewards of keeping a family together can be massive: feelings of belonging, security, identity, and meaning. Because family is so important, it can be scary when you sense disunity under your roof. What do you do?
When your family is experiencing stress and hardship, family therapy at Thriveworks in Corpus Christi, TX can help. Sometimes families need a mental health professional’s insight to summon its strengths and restore its bonds. A licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) at Thriveworks can give family members the therapeutic resources to help them overcome obstacles and achieve their intimacy goals. Reach out today to get scheduled.
What Kinds of Issues Can a Family Therapist Help?
Many people are familiar with the famous quote from the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy: “Happy families are all alike: each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And it’s true that when there’s dysfunction in a family, it can come from a wide range of sources. But unhappiness in various families has one thing in common: at least one person in the family unit doesn’t feel psychologically safe, secure, valued, or beloved.
Some specific issues that can bring family members to a family therapist at Thriveworks in Corpus Christi, TX include the following:
- Spousal conflict
- Financial stress
- Emotional or verbal abuse
- Chronic illness
- Caregiver burnout
- Special needs children
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Bereavement
- Bullying
- Eating disorders
- Behavioral problems
- Substance abuse or addiction
- Blended family difficulties
- Cultural differences
- Estrangement
- Long-lasting grudges
- Frequent fights
What Can You Learn in Family Therapy?
Everyone’s goals for family therapy at Thriveworks in Corpus Christi, TX are different, but there are some common lessons that you and your family members may achieve in your therapy sessions. For example, you can learn how to:
- Be honest without being hurtful
- Reduce tension and conflict in the household
- Forgive, or ask for forgiveness
- Reinforce your family’s strengths
- Manage your anger
- Empathize with family members
- Nurture an environment where everyone feels psychologically safe and supported
- Recognize your family’s unspoken rules and codes of behavior
- Understand everyone’s communication styles
- Identify everyone’s implicit roles within the family
- Listen to each other’s points of view
- Establish healthy boundaries
- Use neutral language to improve communication
- Recognize emotional triggers
- Built trust in each other
- See when someone needs additional mental health support
Support Your Loved Ones with Family Therapy at Thriveworks in Corpus Christi, TX
You can show how much you love and value your family members by encouraging them to see a licensed family therapist with you at Thriveworks in Corpus Christi, TX. Together you can face your problems head-on in a safe, compassionate, and insightful environment. Our family therapy clients often discover practical, effective strategies to solve their problems within just a few sessions.
Call the Thriveworks office today and you may be able to meet with your family therapist this very week. We look forward to helping your family!
