Types of Family Therapy Available for Brooklyn Residents

While individual therapy can be a helpful pathway for healing, in some cases, trauma can go deeper. When family members are involved in a challenge, as with cases of addiction, generational abuse, divorce, or other complex issues, family therapy sessions can be a more effective way to address the feelings of multiple people.

Conditions Treated With Family Therapy

What are the types of family therapy approaches?

Can different family therapy approaches help different families?

Benefits of Family Therapy

Finding Family Therapists in Brooklyn

Conditions Treated With Family Therapy

Family therapy can help address several mental health issues; however, it is more common in cases of change or trauma that affect more than one person or even an entire family. Some common challenges treated with family therapy include:

• Changes within the family
• Behavioral problems in children or teens
• The death of a loved one
• Trauma
• Stressful life transitions
• Divorce or marital issues
• Parenting problems
• Issues between siblings

What are the types of family therapy approaches?

Family therapy comes in many forms. The types of family therapy a person may choose can depend on the needs of the individual family members as well as their relationship with the mental health professional. For example, some therapists may specialize in things like LGBTQ support or relationship therapy.

How Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Supports Families

Cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective, evidence-based therapy that supports changing old negative patterns of thought and behavior and shifting them in more positive directions. While popular as a form of individual therapy sessions, CBT can also be used as family therapy. A family therapist may use CBT to help shift untrue or unhelpful beliefs established within a family.

Structural Family Therapy

Structural family therapy focuses on helping family members set healthy boundaries and power dynamics within the family unit. Structural family therapy can be especially helpful for blended families, intergenerational families, and single-parent families, although it can (and is) commonly practiced by many therapists for all sorts of family dynamics.

Strategic Family Therapy

Strategic family therapy is a short-term solution in which a family therapist assists children or teens with behavioral issues. In strategic therapy, the family therapist will create an individualized treatment plan while seeking to identify and change any family dynamics that may be contributing to the issues.

Narrative Family Therapy

Narrative family therapy offers a way for family members to tell their stories and learn to relate these experiences to their interactions with others. Mental health therapists who specialize in narrative therapy may help family members interact more healthily by getting them to look at other people's experiences in a different way and not through their narrow lens.

Supportive Family Therapy

Supportive family therapy is designed to offer a safe space for family members to share their feelings while learning how to offer support to one another.

How Systemic Family Therapy Helps Families

Also known as family systems therapy, systemic therapy is an approach to helping those with mental health problems learn to use the strength of their relationships to overcome challenges and work toward healing. A therapist who works in systemic family therapy has experience with both individual mental health concerns and family issues.

Functional Family Therapy

Like strategic family therapy, this form of family therapy is often a short-term solution for young people who engage in high-risk behaviors, substance use, or violence. Therapists will help the family find solutions while also building trust and support between family members.

Transgenerational Therapy

This type of family therapy focuses on behaviors, patterns, and dynamics that have been passed down from generation to generation throughout the years. Family members work with a therapist to identify the root causes of current problems and uncover potential deep-seated trauma and wounds that may be affecting the family unit today.

Psychoeducation For Families

This therapy educates family members on mental health conditions. This way, if a family member experiences a specific condition, they will be better equipped to understand that family member, support their needs, and work together as a cohesive unit for treatment.

Relationship Therapy

Relationship therapy is used to support a couple who is having difficulty with communication issues in their relationship. Marriage and family therapists can offer a safe environment for romantic partners to share their feelings and strategies to help improve their relationships.

Can different family therapy approaches help different families?

The very reason that multiple forms of family therapy exist is because the family dynamic can be different and require different approaches. Someone who is looking to heal their marriage has different needs than a family who is trying to help a child with substance abuse issues.

A family who has difficulty understanding each other may choose to participate in narrative therapy, while systemic therapy may be more appropriate for a family supporting one of their members with borderline personality disorder. Family problems and family structure come in many forms; therefore, so does family therapy.

Benefits of Family Therapy

Family therapy can help families with communication skills so that they learn to better understand and support each other and resolve conflicts in a way that avoids damaging relationships within the family unit.

It is also a way to learn to support family members with mental health conditions, behavior issues, or substance abuse problems. Families can learn to change certain behaviors that may be a contributing factor to existing mental illness and offer support.

Family therapy can also help those dealing with someone with a chronic illness. Often, they may not understand how to best help or how to protect their own mental health in the process. A licensed therapist can offer strategies and coping mechanisms to help family members support each other and themselves.

Finding Family Therapists in Brooklyn

If you think your family may benefit from therapy, there are many great options in Brooklyn. Williamsburg Therapy Group is Brooklyn’s top spot for highly effective doctoral-level family therapy.

To book an appointment, either browse our doctors online or give our patient coordinator a call to get matched with the best therapist for your family. Feeling better may be closer than you think.