What is Marriage and Family Therapy?

According to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy External link  (AAMFT), Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) perform a variety of clinical services for mental health issues, psychological concerns and interpersonal relationships.

MFTs receive comprehensive training in family counseling and individual psychotherapy models. Trained in listening, assessing and demonstrating practical interventions to improve quality of life and relationships, they routinely help individuals, families, couples and groups.

In essence, MFTs apply psychotherapeutic techniques to foster growth and satisfaction within intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics.

What does a Marriage and Family Therapist do?

MFTs have the following qualifications and typical job descriptions:

• Providing therapeutic services to individuals, couples and families seeking help, change or overall improvement in life satisfaction
• Identifying key concerns within the intrapersonal or interpersonal systems to facilitate change
• Diagnosing, assessing and providing crisis interventions as needed
• Facilitating group therapies and promoting psychoeducation
• Coordinating treatment care with other professionals including psychologists, medical doctors, teachers, dietitians and case managers
• Performing necessary intake, treatment plan, assessment and discharge documentation for client caseloads

According to the AAMFT, MFTs tend to provide brief, specific, and focused therapy. AAMFT also notes that short-term clinical treatment is common External link , with 65% of therapies concluding within 20 sessions and 87.9% concluding in 50 sessions. As mental health awareness and destigmatization of therapy continue to improve, at any given time MFTs are treating over 1.8 million Americans.  External link 

Marriage and Family Therapy programs typically focus on the following:

• Counseling theory
• Clinical interventions and applications
• Law and ethics
• Multicultural competence
• Specific populations: Families, couples, LGBTQ, children and adolescents, elderly, domestic violence, support groups
• Specific issues: mood and anxiety disorders, chemical dependency, personality disorders, eating disorders, trauma and grief, spirituality, human sexuality