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Find A Therapist
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What is Marriage and Family
Therapy?
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| Marriage and Family Therapy is an intervention aimed at improving mental and emotional disorders and relationship problems within the context of family and larger social systems. |
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| Individuals are greatly influenced by their family's patterns of behavior. Therefore, individuals often benefit by involving the whole family in therapy. In Marriage and Family Therapy, the unit of treatment is not just the individual person - even if only a single person is attending therapy. In Marriage and Family Therapy, we explore the set of relationships in which the individual person is embedded. |
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| Typically, half of the clients that see a Marriage and Family Therapist receive one-on-one individual therapy. The other half will receive either marital/couple therapy or family therapy. |
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| Marriage and Family Therapists treat a wide range of problems that include depression, marital problems, anxiety, individual psychological problems, and child-parent problems. |
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| Research indicates that Marriage and Family Therapy is as effective--and in some cases more effective--than individual treatments for many mental health problems such as: adult schizophrenia, mood disorders, adult alcoholism and drug abuse, children's conduct disorders, adolescent drug abuse, anorexia in young adult women, childhood autism, chronic physical illness in adults and children, and marital distress and conflict. |
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| Marriage and Family Therapists generally practice short-term therapy: 12 sessions on average. MFTs are solution-focused and set attainable therapeutic goals; therapy ends when those goals are met. Nearly 65% of clients complete therapy within 20 sessions; almost 90% complete therapy within 50 sessions. Marital/couples therapy (12 sessions) and family therapy (9 sessions) both require less time than the average individual therapy (13 sessions). |
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| Today, as many in the United States are debating issues of marriage and family composition, it is important to clarify what we mean when we use the words “marriage” and “family.” We assert the value and positive impact of stable, long-term, emotionally enriching relationships. We believe that society is better off when social groupings are created that allow for and support these qualities. We recognize that all family forms have inherent strengths and challenges. As Marriage and Family Therapists we focus our study and skills on how individuals in our society couple – choosing partners and establishing households – and form family groups. |
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| We study and intervene to assist in these relationships whether that means a marriage has occurred in the legal sense, whether there is co-habitation, or other forms of family. We invite members of heterosexual, same-sex, culturally similar, intercultural/interracial and other forms of family composition to engage with Marriage and Family Therapists for relationship development and problem solving within their cultural contexts. We welcome all who would seek out our services in order to build strength and health in their lives, relationships, and in society. Our code of ethics states that, “Marriage and Family Therapists provide professional assistance to persons without discrimination on the basis of race, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, gender, health status, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.” We are an open and inclusive profession and organization. |
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