Marriage And Family Therapy

Marriage and Family Counselling focuses on familial, couple, and group relationships. Marriage and Family therapists, psychologists who work in this specialization, possesses knowledge dealing with family dynamics and problems which involve everybody involved in close relationships. Marriage and Family Therapists teach, supervise, do research and engage in practice through consultation and treatment in a diverse number of settings Their primary goals are to discover the influence of problems in individual behavior through analysis of patterns of family and couple interactions, and examination of how those involved reinforce maladaptive and adaptive thinking and behavior. Additionally, Marriage and Family Therapists utilize treatment interventions …show more content…
Their similarities include being mental health professionals who treat clients with diverse problems, and their ability to diagnose mental issues. However, when a client has a serious illness, outcomes are more positive and effective when family is involved in therapy due to the crucial role of marriage and family structure. This is where these psychologists specialize. Clients are likely to prefer marriage and family counseling when they require marital counseling or aid with family transition, while clinical counseling helps individuals with more intrapersonal conflict as opposed to …show more content…
Structural family therapy is a form of family therapy in which the therapist infers the inadequate adjustments of relationships amongst family members from their behavior and attempts to aid the family restructure their relationships for positive and more desirable outcomes. In a typical session, the therapist observes a family’s interactions and draws diagrams of the relationships inferred from their behaviors. Furthermore, they identify behaviors which hinder the achievement of specific goals while providing restructuring techniques such as forming temporary alliances between family members; increasing tension to trigger changes in unstable structures, assigning tasks and “homework” for clients, and providing support, training, and guidance. Other duties include encouraging their clients to discuss emotions and experiences, help their clients to process reactions and adjust to life changes such as divorce and layoffs, develop positive coping mechanisms, coordinate treatment with other professionals like psychiatrists and social workers, and refer clients to community resources such as support groups or treatment