What is Family Systems Therapy?
There are many types of therapies for those who struggle with mental, emotional, or psychological problems, but family therapy is unique in that it helps heal an entire family unit at once.
What is Therapy for Families?
What Constitutes a Family?
The Types of Family
- Nuclear family: the traditional familial structure consisting of two parents and children.
- Single Parent Family: A single parent raises a child or children on his or her own.
- Extended Family: Many relatives live together while working toward goals held in common.
- Childless Family: Couples who either cannot have children or choose not to.
- Stepfamily: More than half of marriages culminate in divorce; when many divorcees seek to remarry, they form a blended or stepfamily.
- Grandparent Family: This exists when children are raised by their grandparents for whatever reason.
Types of Family Systems Therapy
- Supportive: Providing an open, safe environment where all family members can express their feelings, this therapy provides opportunities for families to come together while a therapist can provide practical advice.
- Systemic: This is based on the feelings of the entire family, identifying problems within the dynamics of a family as a whole; here the therapist attempts to shift attitudes, problems, and relationships to positions that are less damaging, more realistic, or otherwise more beneficial.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: These techniques seek to change people’s ways of thinking and their behavior for the reduction or elimination of problems; a therapist may assign homework to each family member with this principle in mind.
- Psychodynamic Ideas: This therapy type delves into an individual’s subconscious, reducing problems by targeting underlying problems with the theory that family members can better tackle difficulties when they know the real reasons beneath strife.
In addition to physical cravings, someone with an addiction issue will also spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about their drug of choice. These thoughts become a compulsion and impossible to control, which leads to drug-seeking behavior that can sometimes be criminal.
Feelings of depression, sadness, anxiety, despair, and the like are often at the root of substance abuse. The substance might temporarily mask these feelings, but they return once the high wears off, creating a vicious circle of drug abuse.
Taking a substance will temporarily stop the cravings and compulsion for it, but soon the same feelings return. In time, it takes more and more of the same substance to achieve the same effect it once had.
People addicted to drugs and alcohol may feel like they have no control over their drug use. Refraining from using or stopping seems to be an impossibility for them. The substance controls them, rather than the other way around.
Someone addicted to drugs or alcohol will continue to seek them out even if their addiction has made them lose friends, family, spouses, and jobs. Drug-seeking behavior can even lead to diseases such as hepatitis and HIV/AIDS.
If you are considering treatment for yourself or a loved one, call us today.
Goals of Treatment for Families
Tips for Successful Family Treatment Sessions
Preparing for a Therapy Session
We can assist with treatment for families at our Intensive Outpatient Program in Los Angeles. Our clinical team prepares treatment plans that make use of client input during the curation process. Family therapy is an important step in healing the difficulties caused by addiction in one or more family members. When one part of the family unit is addicted, everyone is affected. Reach out to learn more about how we can help here at Nexus Recovery Services.
If you or a loved one are suffering from alcohol or drug addiction, we’re here to help. Contact us today and speak with one of our trusted recovery advisors.
