Everyone jokes about juvenile behavior, but the truth is that adolescents everywhere act out once in a while. But what about extreme behavior? When should a parent seek help for her teenager’s unruly behavior? This is a difficult issue for many parents. It’s important to understand that adolescents are trying to grow into adulthood and [...]
There are many issues that family therapy is not a good idea to try to solve. However, there are many issues where family therapy is quite appropriate. If you are struggling with anger, for instance, that may not be something a family therapist can help with. You may have to seek anger counseling. Your victims [...]
Family therapy is sometimes necessary to heal a particular dysfunction or to overcome a trauma that has paralyzed your relationships. It’s important to understand that no obstacle is too difficult to overcome. Sometimes personal healing comes when others better understand what you’ve been through. Your family is important. Even being the victim of a trauma [...]
The addition of children to any marriage adds a complexity to the relationship and to the lifestyle as a whole. No matter how many times or in how many ways someone else says that children add new and varied levels to a relationship and to a life, it is something that really just isn’t understood [...]
Family and Marriage Counseling often go hand in hand because there is an obvious and unbreakable connection within families and their dependence on a successful marriage. When a couple argues and fights, creating tension and hurt in their marriage, their children inevitably suffer the consequences of such a difficult situation. The children see the fighting [...]
Sal and Barb had been married for 22 years. They were both calm individuals and kept their own personal dramas to a minimum. They had a lot of interests in common, including hiking, which contributed to a better than average communication line between the two of them. In short, they were well equipped to understand [...]
When marriage counseling is not used to help a couple come to a better understanding in their relationship then it is quite often a family therapist who is called in to pick up the pieces when a couple decides to divorce. And their family needs real help. It would have been helpful if the couple [...]
The sheer availability and popularity of social networking websites has enabled many families to stay in touch with one another even when separated by long distances. In some cases, however, it has also exacerbated emotional distancing techniques that are detrimental to healthy family communication and lasting, sustainable relationships. When family members are kept apart by [...]
Families are complex micro cultures that take on incredible proportions of emotion and effort in our lives. When a marriage combines existing families and attempts to blend these families seamlessly without real understanding and knowledge of each individual, the adjustment can be very difficult. The issues that existed in the original family form will no [...]
As a parent and or step parent, it is your responsibility to help ensure that your children and step children successfully navigate the obstacles that face a blended family and come out knowing that they are loved and safe in whichever family they are with. You can never overestimate the importance of family and the [...]
Many family therapists are called on to help children who have or will shortly be moving away long distance. Long distance moving can be difficult on a family, especially one with school age children. Moving to a new home is always a stressful event, but for a child it can be even more so, especially [...]
Family therapists recognize the benefits of family traditions. The bonds that are formed and verified through taking part in family traditions as well as the group dynamics that play a part in finding your role in family traditions are all important. Jerry said: It takes time, love and work to find the right healthy balance [...]
Family therapists often find themselves playing the role of Memory Keeper for families adjusting to difficult moves. Especially now, with so many families losing their home and being forced to adjust to new living arrangements in new neighborhoods or buildings, saying goodbye to an old home is often saying goodbye to an old life. Family [...]
Many families seek out family therapy because their children are depressed and acting out against their family, their peers and their teachers. Often times this pattern of anti-social behavior has been growing for years and is now reaching it’s peak. Children and teenagers are social creatures, but without the access to that social network, they [...]
Family therapy is all about the connections that family members have with the each other and the group as a whole. Simple relational therapy or marriage therapy cannot cover the complex dynamics of a family, especially a family that is working in crisis mode and needs assistance. Many people wonder why a group counseling session [...]
For family groups that have found themselves seeking out the help they require in family counseling, the fears and anxieties about failing can be terrifying. Parents understandably fear losing their children or, as one parent put it, “screwing them up for life.” Sandy: Sol and I had been in marriage counseling before. Honestly, we wanted [...]
When a trusted family friend or Doctor suggests family therapy, many people immediately think of the type of therapy involving a central therapist and a patient. Family therapy is much different than individual therapy, however, and more people would probably be more open to the idea if they knew what it entailed. Group Dynamics in [...]
Family counseling is one of the major steps needed to help families in crisis due to drug abuse. Families receive the help they need with family counseling and drug and alcohol counseling services. Professionals skilled at family therapy specialize in both adolescents and adult family members in need of counseling. Some of the family services [...]
Family Therapy is something that most families attend when things get really difficult and they aren’t sure where else to turn. For some families, however, it is the last stop before a divorce. It is common for judges to require family therapy if a couple with children has filed for divorce. This is done to [...]
Eric and Alex had what they and everyone else around them considered as perfect a marriage as could be found. They had dated for two years before Eric proposed then went to pre-marital counseling before the wedding to be sure that, on that special day, they had done everything they could to ensure a successful, [...]
Family therapy is one of the best options available when a couple goes from a romantic twosome to busy team leaders raising children. The past decades have seen a massive change in the dynamic of women’s roles and, more often than not, the women having children are busy career professionals that lead already personally demanding [...]
Many readers have written to us in response to the post on Emotional Infidelity and how many aspects of it can also be considered role transference. Emotional infidelity is most usually described as the emotional attachment to someone who is not your spouse but is essentially filling every role usually played out except for the [...]
Anger in a marriage takes a far deeper toll when there are children involved. Wheareas some couples may feel that spark of excitement when they argue, it is simply not a good enough reason to accept those patterns of relating once there are children in a home. Anger itself is a very negative pattern in [...]
Family counselors are becoming a very helpful resource for families that have grown in a variety of ways. Whereas the traditional family idea of opposite sex parents and biological children is the most commonly thought of, the reality is that, these days, the family next door is just as likely to have become a family [...]
One of the most beneficial aspects of attending couples therapy sessions is the ability to learn that you are not alone in how you feel, relate or react. Couples therapy allows couples in many different stages of relationships to see that there are hills and valleys to every partnership and many of those are predicable [...]
Family Therapists have long recommended the bonding process of family rituals to increase communication and create lasting and supporting relationships. There are as many different family rituals as there are families, and no one set of rituals will mean the same thing to everyone. Family Rituals Sports: In a family for whom sports is a [...]
One of the most difficult scenarios encountered in family therapy is therapy initiated to deal with a loss. The death of a family member, be it something that already happened or a death that is unavoidable and coming soon, is an unbearable stress for most families to deal with on their own without outside support. [...]
Family therapy is often the last resource brought out to help families dealing with conflict. Whereas marriage counseling and couples counseling is therapy designed to focus on a relationship, family counseling helps entire families identify and resolve their conflicts. Falling out of love and financial woes or infidelity are the types of issues most often [...]
Marriage and Family Therapy is one of the areas of therapy that provides help and assistance to families and marriages in trouble. For those who think that only marriage therapy is in order, not family therapy, you may be surprised to find out just how beneficial family therapy can be to everyone involved. After all, [...]
Family counseling is one of the ways that a family can save their relationships and move on, together. For Julie and Bob, 20 years of an unhappy marriage was endured quietly in order to raise their now adolescent children, however they were ready to move on. The trick was finding a way to move on [...]
