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What is family therapy and systemic psychotherapy?
The systemic therapies have an approach to helping resolve problems which is based on the idea that we are born into a whole complex of relationships, and that throughout our lives we are part of many relationships. Sometimes in families and other close relationships there are a lot of difficulties thrown up around changes of some kind. Sometimes natural life events and tragedies which visit us are made more complex by virtue of the different loyalties and feelings, bound up in our social system.
Systemic therapists consider that family members and significant others can often be most helpful in resolving a problem or in coping with the effects of a serious illness or disorder. This does not necessarily mean that others need be present.
Sometimes it is most beneficial to have the significant persons present. Sometimes it is enough to meet with an individual alone, and to bear in mind the influences of others.
Each person is unique, and the particular relationships of significance to you (beneficial and otherwise) can be used to help you make new sense of your life.
This way therapy often takes fewer appointments to reach a conclusion.
What kinds of issues can family therapy and systemic psychotherapy help with?
- Very many adult mental health difficulties.
- Most child and adolescent mental health difficulties.
- Effects of traumatic events (including past abuse).
- A wide range of emotional troubles of individuals, couples or families. These might involve personal experiences or issues stemming from home, work or other sorts of relationship.
- Families separating or re-forming, with adoptive families and with families caring for children.
- Adults and children with problems with their behaviour.
- Couples whose relationship is in crisis.
Who can this help?
There is a large and growing body of research which indicates that systemic approaches to mental ill-health or emotional distress are often the most effective. This is partcularly true for children and adolescents, for instance, systemic family therapy is the treatment of choice for early-onset eating disorders. This is the case for most problems for children and adolescents. Childhood and adolescent depression are best treated by a combination of individual and family therapy sessions. Other issues are able to be worked with here. For adults, there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that the best treatment by far for depression is systemic couple therapy. Further down the rank comes individual psychotherapy in combination with anti-depressant medication (you might wish to look at homeopathic alternatives from one of our practitioners). Similarly, for anxiety-related issues: for instance, anxieties, phobias, obsessional or compulsive behaviours/ thoughts: the conventional treatments are not very effective and often use medication in combination with desensitisation or cognitive re-programming (from which the drop-out rates are high). The use of an anxiety-reducing substance in order to allow a talking therapy to help best is now quite well founded. This can be achieved by complementary means entirely, as there are homeopathic remedies which reduce the body's state of over-arousal and which will work well in combination with psychotherapy.
Why choose a Registered Psychotherapist?
Registration of Psychotherapists means that each Registered Psychotherapist is fully trained; their work is regularly supervised in order to maintain standards of professional and ethical practice; they have to undertake continuing professional training each year.
The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) - http://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/
This is the largest self-regulating body in the UK for the psychotherapies. The UKCP sets standards of training and of ethical practice. The UKCP pioneered meaningful regulation and quality-assurance processes in the UK.
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