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More About Therapy WHAT IS THERAPY? (Continued) 3)Family/Couples Therapy Family therapy offers family members the chance to talk together about their thoughts, feelings and difficulties while a therapist is present to help each person gain objectivity and understanding. Often, when one person in a family appears to have a problem, it becomes clear that the whole family may be struggling. By coming together to talk, the entire family can gain greater understanding, improve communication and provide help in solving the difficulty.Couples therapy is a special kind of family therapy. Together, partners in a relationship can examine their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the ways in which they communicate with each other. As with other forms of therapy, with time couples can learn to recognize their patterns, some of which have been learned in their respective families of origin. The better each partner understands these patterns and his/her part in perpetuating them, the more chance there is for change. In couples therapy, partners can find healthy ways to have conflict, learn new ways of communication, and enhance their intimacy and feelings of mutual support.
WHY /WHEN MEDICATION THERAPY? Emotional problems are caused by biological and psychological factors. In many, if not most people, the causes are a combination of the two. While “talk therapy” usually helps, if the problem is largely biological in origin, medication may be required to adequately treat the problem. In the case of biologically based problems, stress can trigger emotional symptoms like anxiety or mood disturbances in a similar manner to the way stress in many people triggers physical symptoms like increased blood pressure, headache, gastrointestinal disorders, skin reactions, and flare-ups of various illnesses. While medication can usually reduce the intensity of emotional symptoms, medication alone is not the optimum treatment in most cases since there are almost always psychological issues present. A person's stress level will diminish and the intensity of the biologically based symptoms decrease, as troubling issues are resolved. The reduction in psychologically based stress, in addition to decreasing current symptoms, also lowers the person's vulnerability to future emotional and physical difficulties. For more information on medication from the National Institute of Mental Health Home|About Us|Map |
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