Family Therapy Relationship Counseling

If you are experiencing distress in your family, marriage or other relationship, Greene Psychology Group in Raleigh, North Carolina can help. We provide diagnosis and treatment for a range of mental health conditions, as well as counseling to help you solve relationship problems. This strengths-based treatment helps your family work through unhealthy patterns or systems to find the peace, harmony and cooperation you all want. Therapy with your family, marital counseling and other relationship counseling can help all of you enjoy a happier lifestyle.

What is family therapy?

Family therapy and marital therapy are types of psychotherapy designed to alleviate conflict in your relationships. This talk therapy works by improving how your family members interact. Unlike individual counseling which treats problems within one person, this treatment focuses on correcting unhealthy patterns and developing positive systems for problem-solving.

Who needs family therapy or marital counseling?

The "family" in family therapy or relationship counseling can vary widely from one family unit to the next. Your family consists of the people who support you in your life. These may be blood relatives or others who live in your household. Healthy family relationships are key for your mental well-being.

This therapy can help if your family unit struggles with particular challenges. It is also beneficial to help members of the group adjust to one member's mental health diagnosis, other health problems or an addiction. Therapy goals typically center on resolving conflict and improving communication.

Your relationships can benefit from therapy or marital counseling in situations like:
• A child experiencing behavioral problems, addiction, eating disorder or school problems
• Trauma or grief affecting all members of the group
• Adjustment to family additions, such as a new child
• Domestic violence
• Parental discord
• Divorce
• Financial hardship

Common Types of Family Therapy

When you seek help from Greene Psychology Group for family therapy, marital counseling or other relationship counseling, you benefit from our highly trained and experienced therapists. They use a variety of methods, particularly those best-suited to your family's specific needs. Some common types of family therapy include:

Bowenian Method

Bowenian family therapy works well when other family members will not or cannot participate in the sessions. This method uses differentiation and triangulation as its core concepts. Differentiation helps individuals learn how to react less emotionally in their family relationships through use of letter writing and other strategies. Triangulation works in a family environment where one member tends to redirect conflict onto a third party, such as in complaining about one child's behavior to another.

Structural Therapy

Structural therapy helps families set healthy boundaries and establish positive roles with appropriate power distribution. This takes place with the therapist ensuring no single family member or sub-unit in the household hold too much power.

Systemic Model

This therapy model examines family power as an unconscious game that perpetuates problems. From a neutral position, the therapist confronts the family to help bring increased understanding of occurring problems.

Strategic Approach

For results in a short amount of time, this method involves family homework. That work is designed to help family members change how they interact with the person to whom they attribute the symptoms or problem. It also assesses specific hierarchies and systems of communication. To achieve goals, the therapist helps the members shift communication patterns and reframe negative issues into positive ones.

Benefits of Family or Marital Counseling

Family counseling works well when the family unit experiences strained relationships or stressful events. It can help resolve communication issues, conflicts and behavioral problems. Therapy also works well for families when one or more members experience mental health concerns affecting the group. Such mental health problems may include depression, addiction, eating disorders or other conditions. Overall, therapy with your family works to achieve better understanding and enhanced collaboration in the family unit.

Therapy often focuses on specific family patterns that contribute to problems. Together, the family members work to find the source of their conflicts so they can learn to better support each other.

Ways family counseling or marital therapy helps include:
• Respecting healthy boundaries
• Promoting better communication
• Fostering cohesion
• Improving problem solving
• Understanding family dynamics and behavior patterns
• Reducing conflict
• Building understanding and empathy

Situations in Which Family Therapy or Marital Counseling Can Help

If you are considering therapy with your family or marital counseling, you and your loved ones can likely benefit from the process. Some common situations for which people seek this treatment include:

• Merging of two families into one
• Bringing disconnected families back together
• One member feeling alone within the family
• One or more children acting out
• Addiction intervention or dealing with a loved one's substance abuse
• Deceitful or secret-keeping behavior
• Lost sexual intimacy in the marriage or relationship
• Withholding intimacy as punishment
• Growing apart
• Holding grudges

Family Therapy and Marital Counseling in Raleigh, North Carolina

Greene Psychology Group provides in-person, teletherapy or online therapy for families and couples from our Raleigh, North Carolina office. If you and your loved ones struggle to communicate effectively and solve problems as a group, we can help. We can also provide support and guidance for families struggling with inappropriate or problem behaviors among family members. Call us to schedule your first family therapy or marital counseling visit today at 919-205-5339.