Marriage and Family Counseling - A Shocking New Treatment That Gets Results

Marriage and Family Counseling - A Shocking New Treatment That Gets Results

Because family is so important to most of us, many psychotherapists focus their practice on the family.

This helps them better treat depression and mental illness - as mental health problems are often linked to a person's family situation. It is known that when all family members are involved in therapy, a person's chances of making positive changes are better and everyone benefits.

But the big obstacle for therapists has long been how to determine that

family interactions. The customer is often the only one he shows up for

Therapy. The therapist must therefore interpret the family dynamics through the often distorted lens of the client. This slowed progress in therapy and made it difficult for the client to fully recover.

Now, however, some therapists are using an almost shocking technique to overcome the difficulties of getting the whole family engaged.

A shocking approach that gets results

A few brave, pioneering marriage and family therapists go to their clients' homes and stay there for a few days as part of their family counseling. These marriage and family therapists better observe family dynamics and the actual needs of their clients. The client does not spill the beans to the therapist. Instead, the therapist can closely observe the client's true condition and their interactions with family members.

Here are some ways family therapists can help through such observations at home. And that's why you might want to find a therapist who works like this.

1. More help for parents of difficult children

Sometimes parents feel like their child needs professional counseling, but most counselors work with the parents first. They try to figure out the home situation and teach them how trauma can affect the physical development of the brain. And how feelings of anxiety can make children uncontrollable and angry.

Observation at home helps therapists do more than just work with parents. These visits allow therapists to see how parents interact with children.

Parents can still visit the psychotherapist in his office to first talk about their own losses and pain. Once the parents have discussed things and the therapist has observed at home, psychotherapy can progress. Parents can quickly learn from the therapist's observations. And the therapist can help parents respond better to their children.

The family situation improves thanks to observation at home.

Some psychotherapists make home visits as a team

A family in Minneapolis invited a husband and wife family counseling team to stay with them to help with what they believed was an attachment disorder in their adopted school-age son. This adopted child with attachment issues had been traumatized in a previous foster home.

Even after several months with this adoptive family, the child was not connected to anyone. He avoided eye contact, even his adoptive mother. But when the husband and wife psychotherapy team visited the house, he was curious about her. Despite his curiosity, he initially stayed in the room while the counselors spoke to his parents.

He came out later. He became involved. He began to trust. And he willingly went to the Attachment Disorders Psychotherapy Office for regular counseling.

Again, home observation has created a time-saving shortcut to a better life for the entire family.

2. Marriage counseling and improving communication in a relationship

Marriage and family counselors know that most couples only seek help when it is almost too late to save the relationship.

Observations at home can help, even at a time when a couple has broken down and has little hope for their future as a couple. As long as both partners want to continue their relationship, marriage counseling can help them build a stronger marriage.

And monitoring at home can help.

One of the first things counselors do in this situation is screen for domestic violence. Once they are sure that both partners are physically safe, they improve their communication skills and confidence. Because they can see the interactions themselves, they can help the couple make improvements that often take many months, in just a few sessions.

Sometimes a married couple of counselors working with client couples in their homes speeds up the process of reconciliation by making both partners feel safe.

This happened to a couple who hadn't spoken to each other in a few months. After observation at home and a few sessions in the office, the two talked about their injuries and listened to each other. It was an important step towards recovery and a happy future together.

3. Healing from trauma through home observation

People who suffer trauma, particularly abuse from parents, relatives or siblings, often come to counseling alone.

But family counselors can also help such people ground themselves and feel better by observing at home. The idea is to quickly establish the family dynamics. Then the psychotherapist and client can work together to relieve the person of their emotional baggage and support their recovery.

The counselor may use various methods to heal the trauma: breathing techniques, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (a method of psychotherapy that uses eye movements to help a person mentally process and overcome past trauma), or the internal family systems model (an approach to counseling that uses the concept of subpersonalities or diversity of mind.)

These are all supported with home observation to help the person recover from their trauma. A young person who was physically, verbally and emotionally abused at home eventually left her family for foster care, where she was abused again.

As you can imagine, she was very traumatized. In fact, she attempted suicide several times before agreeing to enter therapy. A psychotherapist observed her at home while she interacted normally with her foster family. The psychotherapist learned so much from this interaction and was able to quickly create a treatment plan.

This trauma treatment plan was a turning point – the girl was able to correct the message of low self-worth she had received from years of abuse. In fact, she not only recovered mentally but also earned a master's degree and became a compassionate and peaceful person. Once again, observation at home made the therapy effective. Thanks to home observation, many people with mental illness, depression or trauma can improve.

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