Family relationships play a large role in contributing to one’s mental health. While partnerships, parent-child relationships and sibling interactions can yield support and intimacy, they can also be the source of much discord. Couple and family therapists work with members of the family in an effort to identify personality styles, communication patterns, and interpersonal dynamics that influence the family’s functioning as a whole and the individual functioning of its members.
Treatment Method
Couple and family therapies involve the participation of several family members at the same session. Our clinicians utilize a variety of techniques to understand individual personality styles and relationship patterns within the context of the family system and to modify patterns of communication and interaction within the family.
Couple Therapy
At Diagnostics, therapists work with the members of a partnership or marriage to identify areas of conflict, as well as areas of strength and compatibility for the couple. Couple’s therapy typically allows for an exploration of personality dynamics that impact the couple’s expectations, communication and interactions with one another. Therapists working with couples also may give more directives than one might find in individual treatment, as the therapist may employ techniques aimed toward modifying the dynamic between the couple.
Family Therapy
Family therapists similarly seek to analyze the process of interaction and communication within a family, with the understanding that the family serves as a system in which each member’s actions and interactions affect those of all other members of the family. While one family member is often identified by the family as the primary source of conflict or problems, the family therapist uses techniques that shift dynamics within the family by working with several or all family members and, in effect, aim to ameliorate the “identified patient’s” issues, as well as the contributing patterns of interaction within the family.