{A Family Systems Approach To Marriage Therapy

A lot of couples battle with relationship issues. Actually there are more adults going through relationship problems that they require help dealing with than there are individuals suffering from many psychological problems that are frequent in our community today.

Marriage is an essential part of a family’s life in our community. Issues and challenges that the married couple is not able to fix on their own can lead to unhappiness and separation. When couples are not happy it also affects their families and other people they are surrounded with in a negative way. To help these couples work with their emotional difficulties and conflicts, pastors and therapists can benefit from a family systems approach to marriage therapy.

The family systems theory was created by Murray Bowen, MD, who was a psychiatrist and is also known as the Bowen theory. The Bowen theory has the potential to change the treatment approach from focusing on an person to a focus on the family as a whole, as well as on the society as a whole.

The family systems approach is the cornerstone of family therapy. One of the key principles of family therapy is that a person’s behavior influences their family and the whole environment, but is also influenced by their environment. Therefor the focus in this therapy model is shifted from an individual focus to focusing on the entire family. That doesn’t mean though that family systems therapy is only given to families, it can be given to just one individual person. Family systems therapy is defined by the focus of the therapy model rather than the number of persons taking part in counseling. Actually most often one person who wishes to change the way the family dynamics is working out is attending counseling.

Every family has their own set of unspoken and spoken rules. All these rules gradually alter over time as the family members and their demands change.

People commonly play certain roles in their families and favorite behavioral patterns are often recognized within a family. These patterns of behaviors are usually repeated in a cyclic pattern, over and over again, until one of the persons in the family is becoming aware of what is happening and decides he or she wishes to change and heal the relationship. As an example, one of the individuals in the family may have a pattern of withdrawal when another is nagging. When one of the family members are nagging, the other person is responding with withdrawing, this will cause the other person to keep nagging and the other person will just withdraw even more. In family systems counseling, it is pointless trying to figure out who started the negative behavioral pattern or to blame anyone for it. When one person is becoming aware of the pattern and looking to change her or his behavior, the other family members will respond to the change and thus the whole behavioral pattern will change.

Tina Hanson is blogging at Christian Marriage Counseling Info. To learn more about the family systems approach to marriage therapy
MSPB Case Law Update