Family Therapy Nowadays - Essay Example

Even though the family is a social structure that has been in existence for a long time, family therapy is a relatively new concept. According to Nichols (2013), family therapy began developing in the 1950s. For family therapy to develop, psychologists dealing with single patients encountered challenges of causing or increasing problems on one or many family members every time a patient’s condition improved. This led to the realization that families have certain unique interconnections that are hard to ignore.

Treating a patient as part of a family proved to bear positive results and help avoid problems on other members. To become what it is currently, family therapy underwent a lot of evolutions and changes. Many psychologists presented and tested their theories and approaches in solving family problems. Communication and information exchange are the basic sustaining elements of families. Psychologists and therapists also rely on communication as basic way of interacting with patients to ensure effective treatment (Nichols, 2013).

When attending to patients, psychologists have a wide choice of theories that include Systems, Attachment and Social Construction Theories among others. As a professional and experienced counselor, one has to establish an open communication platform with the client. A counselor should not continue with counseling work until patients are willing to talk and participate in the therapy session. Through class discussion, one is able to realize that family therapy is a new concept that is still developing.

A student undertaking psychological studies has unlimited chances to enjoin in research and expansion of the concept of family therapy. Class discussion on the development of family therapy provides a view that there are no specific strategies and techniques in treating a troubled family.