If you are struggling with a mental health disorder, treatment can include several types of therapies, one of which may be family therapy. Family therapy involves family members coming together to resolve conflicts and share feelings. If there is a significant issue with certain family members, and you get along better with a godparent or grandparent, you can choose to have those individuals participate in your therapy instead. But is it necessary? In this blog, we’ll discuss how to decide if family therapy is needed in mental health treatment.
Mental Health Treatment and Family Links
Is family therapy needed in mental health treatment? In many cases, it might be necessary, and it might also simply be very useful, particularly where there are strong links between the family and mental health issues.
Genetics
Genetics are often the main risk factor associated with developing mental health issues, with several significant mental health disorders caused by hereditary factors.
If, for example, a parent has bipolar disorder, it is very likely that their children will struggle with bipolar disorder or related conditions like depression. Below are a group of mental health disorders with known genetic risk factors:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Bipolar disorder
- Personality disorder
- ADHD
- Schizophrenia
Given the strong correlation between genetics and mental health disorders, it’s important to ask, “Is family therapy needed in mental health treatment?”
If there is a family history of certain mental health conditions, then family therapy might very well be needed as part of mental health treatment for multiple generations, especially as a tool to provide education about the condition and to offer connections to resources like support groups.
Environment
Environment can often be a singular cause or one of multiple causes and risk factors associated with mental health treatment. Environment might take the form of:
- The family dynamics of a home
- Financial circumstances
- Family roles
- Abuse in the family
So, with that in mind, is family therapy needed in mental health treatment for conditions that have been influenced by one’s environment?
Many people argue that family therapy can be an important way to provide much-needed education about all of these risk factors, especially the environment.
For example, if abuse happens in the home, having family members participate in therapy can create the opportunity to discuss this type of behavior openly, elaborate on why it is harmful, and make strategies on how to stop it.
Where there is abuse, there is often a cycle of abuse throughout several generations. Family therapy can provide better information and resources to help overcome this.
Consider another example where family roles can affect one’s mental health condition. There might be parenting styles that affect a person’s mental health.
Family therapy can provide a chance for people to learn how to maintain appropriate family roles. With teen treatment in particular, studies show that family therapy is particularly useful in helping teens who struggle with substance abuse.
Getting Help for Mental Health with Multi Concept Recovery
Multi Concept Recovery is a primary mental health and addiction treatment center. We offer programs for adults and teens. We understand that family therapy can play an important role in some people’s recovery journeys, and it is even more effective at appropriate steps along the treatment plan. If you reach out to our team to discuss treatment for mental health disorders or co-occurring disorders, we can help you determine whether family therapy is needed and at what stage it is best.
For example, individuals who are struggling with substance abuse might very well benefit from the motivational support that comes from family therapy but not until after completing residential programs.
Our team will help you with an initial assessment, after which we can make recommendations for which level of care is best and, subsequently, which types of therapies are most appropriate during those levels of care.
Family therapy can be a very useful tool in mental health treatment, particularly where there are deep connections between the family dynamics or family genetics and the mental health disorders in question. With the right type of mental health treatment, you can choose the most appropriate time to incorporate family therapy, particularly during long-term recovery.
Contact our team to learn more about our mental health programs.
