Comparing The Three Stages Of Marriage And Family Therapy

According to the Marriage and Family Therapy concept there are three stages of a typical therapy. The treatment starts with the initial stage. During this period a therapist should identify and establish therapeutic goals to understand better what a family or an individual want to change, what is the desirable outcome of the treatment and how long the therapy may last. Quintessential questions throughout this phase are: what brings you here?, what do you want to change in your life or in your relationship(s)?, what have you already done to modify the situation and how successful was the attempt? In case of a well formulated issue, a therapist may ask who else is contributing to it and in what fashion. If the client names one or several contributors, it would be helpful to find out if those people are aware of the issue and if they are ready for transformation according to client's opinion. This essential stage may take one or several sessions,
A therapist aims to develop a deeper connection with all of the therapy participants and gathers the important information regarding the issue and interrelationships. Questions may very from case to case but the principal intention for a therapist is to understand a family structure or the problem from the systemic point of view and circular type of enquires would be more appropriate rather than linear. This means that questions should serve a purpose of delivering new information into the family unit or to highlight the interconnections between members and the issue. Also it is critical to identify roles, beliefs, and behavioral patterns amongst the family members. In case of work towards change is initiated it would be suitable to ask a client about the progress even though it is negligible. In compliance with the situation a therapist may challenge a client with appropriate questions regarding their beliefs, assumptions, and