COVID-19 as a Transformative Opportunity for Families and Therapists: Harnessing the Possibilities That Constraints Offer Us

Abstract

This article demonstrates several ways in which the constraints that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed for families can provide transformative opportunities to strengthen family relationships, become more resilient, and resolve conflicts and longstanding difficulties. Since most families worldwide have been greatly impacted on many fronts by the pandemic, they are looking to us for hope, guidance, and solutions for coping with high levels of anxiety about living in a world where life as we knew it has been turned on its head and we are struggling to cope with uncertainty about what the future will bring. However, in spite of all the limitations and health consequences COVID-19 has posed for our client families, the majority have been quite resourceful and creative in coming up with their own novel self-generated coping, problem-solving, and health-enhancing strategies well before we see them for the first time. Finally, the article discusses how the constraints of COVID-19 afford family therapists with many opportunities to further hone their therapeutic alliance-building skills, gain an intimate insider’s view of their clients’ daily lives that are not accessible in our offices, and co-design with them therapeutic experiments that can produce high-quality solutions.