What is the difference between family therapy and individual therapy? And when is it best to choose family therapy?
Understanding the difference between family therapy and individual therapy can help you choose the right support for your situation. And if you’re in the San Diego area, we at Pathways Family Therapy are specifically trained to help families address ongoing conflict, major transitions, loss, addiction and mental health crises.
Let’s dive into these questions and get a bit of clarity.
What’s the difference between family therapy and individual therapy?
Individual therapy tends to work on self-awareness and personal symptom relief (depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction, etc.). Individual therapy may also explore the relationships in your life, circumstances affecting you, and identify personal goals in its effort to identify stressors and seek adjustments that lead to relief.
Family therapy includes multiple participants and works to identify prevailing (but often unidentified) patterns in the family system, evaluate how they affect individuals and subsystems (a group within the group) within the family system, and what might be done to adjust the dynamics at play. Individual struggles are a welcomed part of the family therapy conversation, but they are understood within the context of the family experience, not as a single need that must be fixed.
Family therapy follows the transfer of anxiety and the causal affects of historic (perhaps outdated) roles within the family. It typically aims to bring everybody to the table as valuable members of the family system. It may help organize the family into more complementary roles and pursue common goals that help individual needs and family needs coexist.
And yes, it also helps individuals in the system set boundaries that are not always popular with other members in the system.
When is it best to choose family therapy?
If one member of the family is routinely struggling, pieces of the system are caught in a tug-of-war, there are things that need to be addressed but constructive communication is amiss, or there is growing disconnection between members, it’s time for family therapy. Often times, it is one member who seems to be rocking the boat that leads a family toward family therapy.
They come seeking help with the “problematic” member, only to find that the “problematic” member is, in fact, the public expression of deep-seated family dysfunction. It’s a hard pill to swallow: the prodigal child or the aloof parent is not the only one that needs help; their actions connect to some family dysfunction, disorganization, trauma, mis-attunement, or transition.
If you recognize a shift from understanding to resentment, from connection to isolation, or from support to conflict, it’s worth meeting with a family specialist to open up the conversation and accurately assess the family situation.
Why Family Therapy Matters
Family therapists spend the majority of their career understanding nuances within family systems, and they develop solid clinical judgement and intuition (backed by years of training and experience) to help recognize patterns, illuminate all the complex dynamics at play, and make clinical recommendations that will guide the family toward development and healing.
Kind of like going into the mechanic’s shop for a gurgling sound in your car and walking out with a clearer understanding of what’s making the sound, why it’s making the sound, what to do about it, and how to keep it running well for years to come.
Ok, let’s do this.
The family therapists here at Pathways love this work. We enjoy different personalities all in one room, the complexity of change, and the healthy evolution of a family system. It’s fascinating, powerful, and transformative work. And all this starts with a single request, a growing desire for something different, and choosing a counselor who’s ready to walk the path with you.
If after understanding the difference between family therapy and individual therapy you feel your family may benefit, you can schedule a consultation here.
This article was written by Jeff Williams, Licensed Clinical Social Worker – LCSW 28894.
