Family Therapy

Couple counseling has also been referred to as relationship therapy or, more speci?cally, relationship enhancement.However, unless you are using the speci?c approach entitled relationship enhancement therapy , we recommend avoiding this term because it does not distinguish between couple therapy and family therapy or even more speci?c interventions such as mediation. Frequently, two family members pursue therapy together in an effort to improve their relationship. This is most aptly referred to as family therapy because it includes two members of one family who are not romantically involved.

De?ning Families Like the de?nition of a couple, the de?nition of a family has, unfortunately, become a politically loaded topic. It is dif?cult to make statements about families without encountering opposition. We believe families come in all shapes and sizes. Family theorists and therapists differ with regard to whether they will treat subsets of family members when conducting family therapy . However, in our transient, mobile society, at any given time, the family may be de?ned and con?gured differently than it was a week ago or than it will be next week.

Children in coparenting situations often see themselves as actually having two or more families. Children raised in extended kinship systems, as re?ected in many American Indian and other cultures, may live for periods with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or older siblings. Families may contain foster children, elderly relatives, and part time members. They may be headed by one parent, two parents, a grandparent or two, a parent and stepparent, and so on. Sometimes, people who consider themselves family do not reside together, either by choice or by law. For instance, it is not uncommon to do family therapy with a family in which one member is living in a juvenile detention facility or group home.