The
practice of consulting an experienced family and couple therapy expert is
becoming increasingly popular in Mississauga and many other cities across the
globe for the host of benefits such professionals are known to offer. Here is a
quick primer on why you should see them and what to expect from the
consultation.
Family
and couple therapy, or FCT, in short, is essentially a
psychotherapeutic procedure that aims to address the behaviors and responses of
all the members in a family and the manner these behaviors influence individual
family members as well as associations between the family as an individual unit
and its members or sub-units. Evidently, such treatment is typically divided
between the number of hours spent on couple therapy and individual therapy as
well. FCT may also be known as family and marriage therapy, marriage
counseling, couple counseling, or family counseling.
AREAS
OF APPLICATION
The range of
psychological and physical issues treated by experienced family and couple therapy caregivers in Mississauga and
other major cities across the globe include couple and marital conflict,
alcohol and substance abuse, child and parent conflict, grief, sexual
dysfunction, distress, problems related to eating and one’s weight, child
behavioral issues, and eldercare problems, for instance, coping with one’s
grandparent’s or parent’s dementia. FCT practitioners are also known to work
with issues pertaining to the mental well-being of an individual, such as
depression, schizophrenia, or anxiety, and how they affect the other members of
the family.
WHAT
TO EXPECT
Family
and couple therapy in Mississauga and other key cities
around the world is usually offered on a short-term basis and generally
comprises of a dozen of solution-centric sessions. However, additional sessions
may be needed depending on the severity and the nature of the issue(s). In
marriage or couple counseling, expect your therapist to meet you as well as
your partner before spending some amount of time with each of you. Similarly,
in family therapy, your therapist is to meet the entire family prior to meeting
individually all, some, or any (whatever deemed appropriate and applicable) of
the members of the family in question.
The very first session
of a typical family and couple therapy is
usually reserved for accumulating necessary information to help your therapist
learn about the issues that could have compelled you to seek therapy or any
other forms of professional assistance and also get the thought process of
everyone involved to observe the family/couple dynamics.
When receiving a family and couple therapy, you should
ideally be in a position to have a fair idea about the role and competency of
your therapist, potential outcomes of the treatment, and any rules that are
meant to be followed throughout the sessions, such as which sessions are to be
attended by whom, as well as confidentiality of any personal information, shared among and between family members or
partners and the consultant therapist. Over a considerable period of time, you
are to identify individual family behaviors and roles contributing to
conflicts, be able to recognize particular challenges and be in a position to
explore means for actively resolving issues.
