It’s important to feel connected with and supported by the people who you consider family. But when you’re experiencing conflict with your family members, your entire life can feel like it’s in upheaval. Family therapy helps spouses, parents and children improve their relationship with each other.

Family relationships are complex, and factors within the interpersonal dynamics can affect any member’s well-being and mental health. Distress and friction within any member of a relationship can affect everyone else.

Whether or not someone lives with you, if you consider them to be family and are struggling with your relationship with them, you can attend family therapy together. You can attend family therapy with your:

Ideally, everyone who lives together or is involved in the issues that are causing concern should attend family therapy. In some cases, another member of the family may participate for a limited time unless the focus of treatment includes them.

For example, if you’re struggling with parenting your child, your own parents may pose an obstacle to improving the situation. You might want to involve them in a few sessions to gain clarity, improve communication with them and plan the next steps.

If you have young children, you may not need to involve them in therapy. Some may be too young to understand or process the information. However, you should talk to your therapist about whether your child or anyone else should attend.