Children's and adolescents' views on family therapy

Abstract

Family therapy has made a considerable contribution to our understanding of the experiences of children and families and especially how various symptoms can be understood as their response to distressing family dynamics. Though family therapy has found ways of alleviating children's distress we still know relatively little about how children experience the process of family therapy. Such knowledge is important for ethical as well as pragmatic reasons - to be able to offer a more sensitive and effective experience. This paper reports a study employing qualitative methods whereby children were interviewed about their experience of family therapy. Semistructured interviews were conducted after family therapy sessions, and children were invited to recall what they perceived to be helpful and unhelpful. Helpful events or moments were then identified and replayed on the videotape of the sessions to assist children's memory. The results suggest a diversity of experiences according to the children's ages, gender and role in the family. Some common assumptions were challenged by the findings, for example, that some children preferred more directive and focused aspects of the therapy, rather than systemic questions which could inspire feelings of confusion and inadequacy.