Benefits of Family Therapy
“No [one] is an island,” wrote the 17 th century poet John Donne. It’s an insight as old as recorded history—at least, and probably older. We are who we are in large part due to our relationships. Physicists know that everything there is, right down to protons, electrons, and neutrons, everything is what is as part of a system. As modern psychology developed it became clear that the insights of the “hard” sciences might also apply to the humanities. Whoever I am, I am also inescapably my father’s son/my mother’s daughter/my spouse’s partner, and so forth. We call this form of thinking “systems thought.” In psychology we call it “Family Systems Theory.” So many of our personal issues are the result of complicated and unresolved relationship problems. But sometimes it’s hardest to see what’s right in front of us. Most extended families have a patriarch or a matriarch, if not by title then by emotional clout. Some family members identify as supporters, some as opponents, and some ju...