This topic of this reaction paper is "Counseling Individual Clients Within the Family System" based on the discussion in the book, Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy, by Samuel T. Gladding, Theodore P. Remly, Jr., and Charles H. Huber (2001). According to Gladding et al. (2001), individual therapy sessions can enhance the effectiveness of family therapy sessions by: 1) Providing clients with the opportunities to reveal secrets; 2) Allowing clients to vent their frustration; 3) Helping them learn and practice appropriate behavior; 4) Enabling therapists to assess clients' behavior and responses away from other family members; and 5) Offering therapists clues to diagnose the problems affecting the family (pp. 290-3).
After reading this section of the book, I agree with Gladding et al. (2001) that even though family issues should be addressed from a systemic perspective, the problems experienced by individuals that are not identified and resolved will inevitably impede the progress of the therapy for an entire family (p. 291). For example, a father who is hiding an extramarital affair from the rest of the family members may be expressing his guilt by withdrawing from the family's social activities, thus exerting a negative impact on his spouse and children. Thus, with this knowledge, the therapist will be able to make sense of the father's reaction and help him deal with the issue on an individual basis such as working towards disclosing the information to the spouse and the children.
Even more significantly, I feel that in individual sessions, the clients are given a real reprieve from the family tensions that will still exist when other family members are involved in the therapeutic sessions. Furthermore, distracted by their interactions and feelings about their other family members, the clients will not be able to turn inward and focus on their emotions unless they are parti...