What is MFT?
MFT is considered a mental health profession in itself in the United States. It became more and more popular when people and professionals started to realize that often, after working with individual clients, they would go back to their same dysfunctional ways and their problems would resurface after some time up until they started working with the couple or family unit as a whole. It also differs from other fields such as psychology and counselling in at least one way: it is the system that is seen as the problem in MFT and not the individual(s). In other words, the focus is more in addressing the way individual members [of a system such as couples and families, or even the individual if we consider that we have different parts of ourselves] communicate and interact to each other. Hence, it brings a lot of relief for people working with an MFT professional to finally feel that it is not them who are the problem but actually the way they go about and interact with themselves and others in their daily lives.
For much more information, please consult the official website of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (https://www.aamft.org/About_AAMFT/About_Marriage_and_Family_Therapists.aspx)
Who is it for?
As mentioned above, even if is obvious that this approach is geared in working with couples and families, even individuals can benefit from working with an MFT professional as the approach will be relational (the focus will be on not identifying problems with the person per se, but helping them be more informed on how they can live a more fulfilled life relationally with themselves and others.
FAQs
For more information, please consult these great informative websites
https://camft.ca/What-is-a-RMFT
https://www.drericksontherapist.com/family-therapy-faqs.html
