Family counseling is a mode of treatment aimed at changing patterns of family interactions so as to correct family disturbances. There are theories in family counseling that lend themselves to helping families acquire and maintain certain qualities; such as the following: commitment to the family and its individuals, appreciation for each other, willingness to spend time together, effective communication patterns, a high degree of religious/spiritual orientation, ability to deal with a crisis in a positive manner, encouragement of individuals, and clear roles.
Family therapy is grounded in systems theory, which emphasizes three major principles: circular causality, ecology, and subjectivity (Nietzel, 1998). Circular causality means that events are interrelated and mutually dependent rather than fixed in a simple cause-effect sequence. Thus no member of a family is the cause of another's problems; the behavior of each member usually depends, to some degree, on each others. Ecology means that systems can only be understood as integrated patterns, not as parts. For example, a change in the behavior in one member of a family will radiate to affect all others. Subjectivity means that there are no objective views of events. In other words, each family member has their own perception of family events (Nietzel, 1998).
Family therapists sometimes operate from a behavioral point-of-view trying to teach family members alternative ways of communicating their needs. They teach parents to be firm and consistent in their child-discipline practices, encourage each family member to communicate clearly with one another, educate family members in behavior-exchange principles, discourage blaming for all family problems, and help all members of the family to consider whether or not their expectations of other members are reasonable.
A common goal in family therapy is to improve communications among family members (Corey, 1995). Certain qualities are ideal to attain when in a family group or system. Family therapists are available to help families move toward attaining these positive goals and characteristics.
Works Cited
Corey, G. (1995). Group counseling. California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Nietzel, M., Bernstein, D., & Milich, R. (1998). Introduction to clinical psychology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Family Counseling When considering family assessment, one must consider that all individuals come from unique and diverse backgrounds, including families. A counselor must attain a familiarity with these differences in order to strengthen the counseling relationship between him/her and the client. The assessment part of a counseling session is a critical one; the counselor and client become more aware of each other, build rapport and become respectful of each others beliefs
Counseling Family Counseling Approach It is rightly said that 'my paradise is where my family lives." Family is such a blessing that after all the day's long effort and struggle, people find that their energy is regained when they meet the family at night. In societies where the family bonds are tighter, the psychological problems are low. Even the families not living idealistically happily are better than those living alone. However, it
Family Counseling In the presented scenario, there are issues that are clear and that are bound to influence the direction or the effectiveness of the family counseling as well as present ethical issues. First, it is important to understand the contents of the biblical passages to understand their implications to the case. The book of Mark 10: 6-9 is relevant in marriage situations and commonly referred to in marriage ceremonies or when
Family Counseling The Jones family willingly sought family therapy to help them through a crisis with the Jones family's young son. As counseling was not imposed, from the outside, this should make the therapeutic process easier and more constructive. However, there might be a great deal of initial resistance upon the rest of the Joneses to talking about the other underlying family issues and coping mechanism in need of being addressed
Counseling TheoriesDeveloping counselors with expertise in marriage, couple, and family counseling interact with a system that not only affects them but they also affect it. Therefore, the continual study of marriage, couple, and family counseling is important for the personal growth of developing counselors in this field. One of the most important aspects of the personal development of these counselors is using theory to inform professional counseling practice. The use
Family Therapy Family therapists have a variety of therapeutic approaches they might choose for use in their practice. Two approaches with significant differences are the object-relation, or psychodynamic approach, and the cognitive-behavioral approach. The psychodynamic approach looks at the personality development and emotional processes within each member of the family group as well as how the family interacts, and how this is reflected by the psychodynamics of each individual (Gurman & Lebow,
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now