Marriage And Family Therapy : A Distinct Specialization

Marriage and Family Therapists (also known as MFTs) are relationship specialists. MFT focuses on the relationships that the client has and assists them to function as a stable individual and as a relationship parent. MFTs are trained assess to diagnose and treat individuals, couples, families and groups to achieve more adequate, satisfying and productive marriage, family and social adjustment (California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists). According to American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Marriage and Family Therapists are mental health professionals with a minimum of a master’s degree and two years supervised clinical experience. Marriage and Family Therapists are trained and licensed to independently diagnose and treat mental health and substance abuse problems. The role of a MFT is to help individuals and families to address issues and guide them in the situations and everyday life so that they can function within society. MFTs provide a wide variety of services for clients. Some services that MFT provide but are not limited to is diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders, marriage and relationship counseling, and pre-martial counseling. A few of common disorders treated by MFTs are depression, martial/family

their clients (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, 2015). The therapist must “provide professional assistance to people without descrimation on the basis of race, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, religion, or relationship status” (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, 2015). Therapist must also keep confidentiality with assessing their clients. For example: the therapist cannot tell other family members what findings that the counselor found while counseling any other clients.

Family and Marriage therapists identify a wide variety of mental and behavioral issues within a family, individuals, and marriages. (HealthcareColleges.net, 2011) These therapists enable society to tackle their problems and move forward in a positive direction. Family and Marriage therapists are responsible for gathering information by testing and observing their patients. (mymajors.com, 2011) After receiving this information they are required to document and record information gathered from the patient sessions. (mymajors.com, 2011) Therapists should encourage individuals to use skills or strategies when faced with a problem and need to maintain an updated knowledge as new information develops. (mymajors.com, 2011) Some family and

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy employed to assist members of a family in improving communication systems, conflict resolution, and to help the family to deal with certain problems that manifest in the behavior of members. In most cases, deviance in a family member is an indication of underlying family dysfunctions. This paper looks the counselling procedure that can be applied to help the Kline family solve their problems. It answers certain questions including those of the expected challenges during therapy and ways of dealing with the challenges.

Marriage and family therapists are very much needed and are growing in demand. The stigma of seeing a therapist for marital and family problems is disappearing thus making people more likely to seek help for issues they cannot resolve on their own. There has also been an increased recognition of the field of marriage and family therapy (http://www.bls.gov). Over half of managed health care providers and employee assistance programs employ or contract with MFTs and 91% of graduates in 1992 from COAMFTE accredited programs were employed not long after graduation (http://www.aamft.org). According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the field of marriage and family therapy is expected to see a growth of 30% by 2016 making it one of the fastest growing of all occupations (http://www.bls.gov).

1David C. Olsen. Integrative Family Therapy: Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling Series. Minneapolis: Fortress Press; 1993; page 15.

Humanistic Theory is the main focus on self, which transcends into “you” and “your”, then it will be about your experiences. It was mentioned that a person is free to choose their own behavior than just reacting to environmental stimulants and reinforcements (www.answers.com). Then with Humanistic Theory it is mostly focused on to facilitate personal development all together. The theorists that was associated with the Humanistic Theory was Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Rogers felt that a person functions from a distinctive frame of reference in terms of building self – concept. Then Maslow believed that a person has certain needs to be encountered in a hierarchical order as in from lowest to highest(www.answers.com). Also as remembered my theoretical orientation is Structural Family Therapy. Structural Family Therapy is a model of treatment based on systems theory (Horne & Ohlsen, 1982). Also, SFT is a body of theory and techniques that approaches individuals in their social and relational contexts (Vetere, 2001). The thing that Humanistic Theory and Structural Family Therapy (SFT) have in common are the family or individual deals with changes. By both theories dealing with families or individuals that has to make changes that come from their experiences.

I am particularly interested in Biopsychosoical Therapy. (Myers) From what I have learned in psychology courses in college, I feel like the best way to help people in marriage and family therapy is to have a good approach to an individual, couple or family in order to have a positive effect. Combining Biological, Psychological and Social Therapy is the best way to identify external and internal issues in relationships and approach them with a successful outcome.

In the 1970s marital and family therapy was characterized by models that followed the sociological theory. It advanced the need for unity in the community. In case of any disorder in the society, the family was to act as the mediator (Murdock, 2009). These models were traditional and concentrated on finding problems and their causes. The therapists were viewed as important in finding treatments for the psychological issues (Sholevar & Schwoeri, 2008).

Couple therapy often refers to the common negative process, of pursuer and withdrawer, in order to understand the relational dance. This is the process where one partner purses the other through emotional demands, criticism, and complaints, while the other retreats through withdrawal, defensiveness, and passive interaction (Christensen, & Heavey,1990). Many theorists have identified a gender linkage with this pattern, suggesting women present as the demanding, pursuer, while men assume the role of the distant, withdrawer (Christensen, & Heavey,1990; Mornells, 1979). There is a belief among some theorists that this pattern results from different personality characteristics of men and women, and therefore impacted

As a marriage and family therapist, it is important to have a firm understanding of both who you are and your values. This concept, is ever present and most important during our training period. We start as individuals, with a passion that leads us to choose this career path and our own preconceived ideas about what it means to be a therapist. It is those preconceived notions or beliefs, that become assumptions and therapeutic viewpoints underlying our treatment methods. There are eight, beliefs and assumptions, in particular, that can contribute to what therapeutic model of treatment we choose to use in our sessions.

Professional development programs are vital to help associations and individuals to provide services and products that meet clients' expectations. In the therapeutic profession, this is particularly important, since the service delivered affect the health and well-being of clients and their families. Entering the Marriage and Family Therapy program was therefore an important part of my personal and professional development, helping me to become not only a better future therapist and counselor, but also to become a better person in general by means of the emotional and personal skills I developed.

To be a Marriage and Family Therapist requires a specific degree with additional training requirements to specialize in Marriage and Family Therapy. A Master’s degree is required to work as an MFT with 3000 hours of supervised internship required before sitting for the licensing exam. Only after completing the education, internship and passing the state exam can one qualify as a Marital and Family therapist and work unsupervised.

The case that I will be presenting today is comprised of a married heterosexual couple seeking couple’s therapy. Lisa, 32 year old, Caucasian, female and Cody, 32 year old, Caucasian male have been married for 10 years and currently have two twin boys of the age of two. The couple bought their first house and moved to Turner Falls, Massachusetts from Santa Cruz California a couple of years ago. The move was due to Lisa’s pregnancy, as the two of them wished to be closer to Cody’s family for support.

Marriage and family enrichment and family crisis counseling I’m on the family is most important open skills. A reasonable degree and all types of care and counseling is important. But in the area of family life, as in crisis in grief, the minister competence what is required. Four interrelated Factor Make It imperative that the pastor develop skills and marriage and family Care Counseling. First ministers are in a most strategy position to do family counseling and Council than any other profession. The context within which they function as Leaders of congregations provide frequent and natural on trees too many family systems. The professional role gives them continuous contact with couples and Families and succeeded three stages and squares point of the families life cycle. In the church youth work, and preparation for marriage and in weddings in calling in the homes of families, and then participate in many joyful and Soulful event the cycle of the families, Ministries have countless caring  counseling opportunities. The role of ministers are as Educators enable them to teach relationship nurturing insights from our religious Trends Traditions as well as contemporary Communications and conflict resolution skills. Such teaching can help prevent family problems it also plant seeds that may flower in counseling opportunities with family crisis strike. Chair and ceremonies or talking on marriage and family