If you are struggling with addiction, your doctor might have recommended family therapy, depending on your situation. Family therapy is one of a few traditional treatments that you can use in cases where family issues might be the underlying contributor or cause of your substance abuse or addiction. But what is family therapy?
What is Family Therapy?
You have probably heard of group therapy or one-on-one counseling, but not so much about family therapy.
Family therapy is a form of counseling that can help you resolve conflicts you have with other family members and improve your communication. If someone has recommended that you consider family therapy, your treatment will take place with a licensed psychologist.
Family therapy is usually just a short-term treatment that can help you resolve underlying issues contributing to addiction. It can include only family members who are willing to participate or all of your family members. If you have specific issues with just your parents, for example, then family therapy might be a good way for you to resolve these underlying issues with your parents.
The point of family therapy is to help you improve your family connections and improve communication. These are necessary tools when things get complicated, and even if you have gone to multiple individual therapy sessions, you might still need to undergo therapy with family members. This can give them the tools they need to better communicate with you and provide support as you travel down your road to recovery.
What Can Family Therapy Treat?
Even though you know about family therapy, you still may not know when to use it.
Family therapy is used to help you improve relationships that aren’t as strong as they should be.
- You can turn to family therapy to address marital problems.
- Family therapy can be used to help you tackle financial issues.
- Family therapy can help resolve conflicts between parents and their children.
- You can improve relationships with your children or with your partner, even with other family members.
- You can use family therapy to help address substance abuse’s impact on your entire family.
If you have struggled with substance abuse, this is a form of treatment that can help your family members cope.
Your family might be asked to attend therapy with you while you undergo residential or inpatient rehab treatment.
Family members can even seek family therapy if someone else close to them is struggling with addiction but hasn’t sought treatment on their own yet.
Family Therapy in Bloomington, Indiana
When you said about finding family therapy in Bloomington, Indiana, make sure you find a therapist licensed in their state with specialty training for family therapy. Pick a location that works for the majority of your family members. This might be somewhere very close to your home or somewhere closer to your office, or even somewhere that’s in the middle of where all family members live so that everyone travels the same distance.
During a consultation, you can discuss how long the sessions will be, how often the sessions can be scheduled, and what to expect moving forward.
Family therapy is usually shorter-about 12 sessions long, once per week, for one hour. This time allows you to examine your current ability to solve family problems and productively express your emotions. You can explore family roles and behavioral patterns to find issues that may have contributed to the addiction and find ways to improve your strength so that you can care for one another and confide in one another more effectively.
If you are ready for family therapy in Bloomington, Indiana, choose a center that offers a variety of solutions. With Evolve Indy, your family can attend therapy while one of your family members stays at our facility during their rehab. This might be a good way for your family to resolve past grievances, anxiety, grief, or struggle caused by addiction and find ways to best support one another along the lifelong and challenging path to recovery.
If you, or your family, need to address conflict or learn tools that help you better communicate, let Evolve Indy help. Getting help is never easy, but you deserve to live a happy, healthy life. At Evolve Indy, we can give you the family therapy you need to do just that.