What Are The Types Of Family Therapy?
Family therapy can be a turning point. When the tension is high, communication feels broken, or no one knows how to fix what’s going wrong—it can be the space where everything starts to shift.
At Reflection Psychology, we know families come to therapy for many different reasons: parenting struggles, disconnection, unspoken resentment, or mental health challenges that affect more than one person. The good news? There isn’t just one way to do family therapy.
There are several types of family therapy, each designed to support different needs, dynamics, and goals. Let’s walk through the most common family therapy approaches—so you can get a better sense of what might be the right fit for your family.
Structural Family Therapy
Structural family therapy focuses on how your family is “built”—who holds what roles, how power is shared, and how people interact. Think of it like looking at the blueprint of a house. Sometimes the structure itself needs adjustments to make things work better.
This approach works to uncover unhealthy patterns. For example, if one child becomes the “go-between” for parents who barely talk, or if a parent is more like a friend than a caregiver, those dynamics can create stress. A therapist helps the family reorganize those roles in a way that supports healthy growth.
The goal is to improve boundaries. Maybe boundaries are too loose (parents trying to be best friends with their kids) or too rigid (nobody talks about feelings). The therapist helps shift the structure so every person in the family has a clear, supportive role.
Structural family therapy has helped many families who struggle with discipline issues, miscommunication, or emotional distance. If your home feels chaotic, or you feel like the roles are flipped, this type of therapy might be the right fit.
Strategic Family Therapy
Strategic family therapy is all about action. It's practical, focused, and designed to get right to the point—what specific behaviors need to change, and how can we make that happen?
This method is especially helpful when you're stuck in a loop. Maybe it’s the same fight every week. Maybe a teenager keeps breaking rules and the punishments aren’t working. Instead of digging deep into why it happens, strategic therapy asks, “What can we do differently today?”
The therapist often gives direct guidance, even assigning “homework” like new ways to respond to conflict. It’s goal-oriented. The sessions aim to disrupt old patterns and create new ones.
Strategic therapy doesn’t always feel like traditional talk therapy. Sometimes, the therapist might even suggest doing the opposite of what you normally do—on purpose—to shake up stuck dynamics. It’s an approach that families often find effective when they’re overwhelmed and want clear steps forward.
Systemic Family Therapy
Systemic family therapy sees the family as a system, where every action affects someone else—like a ripple in a pond. If one person is feeling anxious, everyone else may feel the effects. The therapist looks at how behaviors and communication patterns feed into each other.
Here, the focus isn’t on blaming one person. Instead, it’s about understanding how each person’s behavior influences and is influenced by the group. This approach is great for families who feel “stuck” and aren’t sure why. You might not be fighting, but there’s tension. You might not yell, but you feel unheard.
Systemic family therapy can help with everything from anxiety to depression to family conflict. It’s used to treat a wide range of mental health issues, including trauma and emotional struggles. It’s especially helpful when individual therapy isn’t enough—when you know the issue isn’t just you, but how everyone’s interacting.
This method often reveals patterns that go unnoticed—like how a child’s acting out might be tied to the parents’ silent arguments, or how one sibling becomes “the responsible one” when stress shows up. A systemic therapist gently helps you see those patterns, so you can shift them together.
Narrative Family Therapy
Narrative therapy is rooted in the idea that we live by the stories we tell—about ourselves, our family, and our problems. And sometimes, those stories need to change.
Let’s say you think of yourself as the “failure” in the family. Or your child believes they’re “the bad kid.” Narrative therapy helps you explore where those beliefs came from and how to rewrite them.
This approach is gentle but powerful. A therapist encourages everyone to separate the person from the problem. Instead of saying, “She’s always difficult,” it becomes, “We’re all struggling with how to handle stress right now.” That small shift changes everything.
Narrative therapy is especially helpful for families dealing with past trauma, mental illness, or long-held judgments. It’s a chance to look at the same story with new eyes—and to tell a new one, together.
Many families leave narrative therapy feeling lighter. The labels get loosened. People begin to see each other not just as problems, but as individuals doing their best. If your family’s stuck in a painful story, this kind of therapy can help you find a better ending.
Transgenerational Family Therapy
Sometimes, what’s happening in your family didn’t start with you. Transgenerational family therapy looks at how beliefs, behaviors, and struggles get passed down—often without anyone realizing it.
Have you ever said, “I sound just like my mom,” or noticed your child repeating your own bad habits? That’s what this therapy looks at. It helps you understand the invisible threads tying one generation to the next.
Maybe your grandparents never talked about emotions, and now nobody knows how to say “I’m hurt” without it turning into a fight. Maybe a history of depression or trauma is showing up again in a new way. A therapist helps unpack that legacy.
This approach can bring a lot of clarity. You realize that some of what you’re carrying isn’t even yours—it was handed to you. That realization alone can bring a lot of peace.
Transgenerational family therapy is often used for long-term issues like anxiety, depression, trauma, or relationship stress that seems to come out of nowhere. By going backward a bit, families often find a way forward.
Functional Family Therapy (FFT)
FFT is a short-term, intense approach that’s often used when a teen or child is showing disruptive behaviors—things like skipping school, substance use, or acting out. It’s focused, structured, and designed to work fast.
The main goals are to reduce negative behavior, improve communication, and rebuild trust. FFT works not by blaming the young person, but by involving the whole family. The therapist helps everyone get on the same team again.
This kind of therapy often includes homework—like trying new ways of responding to conflict or checking in with each other in a structured way. Over time, those small shifts build into bigger ones.
FFT is backed by research and has been shown to work for all kinds of families. It’s not about judging anyone—it’s about getting back to a place where love and respect are louder than stress and fear.
Psychoeducation in Family Therapy
Sometimes families need more than emotional support—they need information. That’s where psychoeducation comes in. This approach teaches families about mental health conditions, behaviors, coping skills, and how to support one another.
Whether your family is dealing with anxiety, depression, a mental illness like bipolar disorder, or trauma, psychoeducation helps everyone understand what’s going on. It gives names to confusing experiences and tools to handle them.
It can include learning about medication, practicing CBT techniques like thought-challenging, or building skills like emotional regulation. For many families, psychoeducation is the missing puzzle piece—they finally get the “why” behind the struggle.
Knowledge doesn’t solve everything, but it makes the hard stuff a little easier to handle. And it reminds families they’re not alone. Lots of people deal with these things. There’s help, and there’s hope.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in Family Settings
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is well known for individual therapy—but it’s also highly effective in family settings. In this approach, the therapist might help:
A parent manage catastrophic thoughts during conflict
A teen shift from negative self-talk to self-compassion
The family work together to change unhelpful cycles of behavior
CBT is practical and structured. It’s great for families looking to better manage anxiety, depression, or relationship tension with specific tools.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
EFT helps families reconnect emotionally. It's about rebuilding trust and creating safe spaces for open communication. This approach is especially useful in marriage counseling and relationship counseling when emotional connection has faded.
A therapist guides you in expressing deep feelings in ways that bring people closer instead of pushing them apart. It's a powerful path to rebuilding emotional bonds.
Integrating Individual Therapy within Family Therapy
Combining individual therapy and family therapy allows each person to heal while also improving the family as a whole. A parent working through past trauma can show up more present. A teen learning CBT skills can express themselves better at home.
This dual approach builds stronger individuals and better relationships—especially when mental health conditions are involved.
Addressing Mental Health Conditions Through Family Therapy
A therapist doesn’t fix your family—they help you fix it. They listen, ask the right questions, introduce useful strategies, and keep sessions safe and productive. Whether guiding CBT, emotionally focused therapy, or strategic family therapy, the therapist is your steady support through it all.
From anxiety and depression to trauma and other mental health problems, family therapy helps everyone understand, support, and cope. Instead of facing challenges alone, families learn to move through them together—with tools, understanding, and compassion.
Family therapy is about doing the hard work of caring again—through honest talks, shared understanding, and small steps toward closeness. Whether you need a structured approach like strategic therapy or a deep emotional method like EFT, the right support can make home feel like home again.
If Any of This Feels Familiar, You’re Not Alone
If your home feels tense more than it feels safe…
If conversations always seem to turn into arguments—or silence…
If you’re trying, but still feel like something’s missing…
I’m Lauren Hofstatter, LMHC. I help couples and families reconnect, communicate better, and move forward in a way that feels good for everyone—without pressure, without judgment, and at your pace.
Schedule a session today, and let’s start making things better. For you. For your family.
