Children's and adolescents' views on family therapy

Family therapy has made a considerable contribution to our understanding of the experiences of children and families and especially how various sympto ms can be understood as their response to distressing family dynamics. Thou gh family therapy has found ways of alleviating children's distress we stil l know relatively little about how children experience the process of famil y therapy. Such knowledge is important for ethical as well as pragmatic rea sons - to be able to offer a more sensitive and effective experience. This paper reports a study employing qualitative methods whereby children were i nterviewed about their experience of Family therapy. Semistructured intervi ews were conducted after family therapy sessions, and children were invited to recall what they perceived to be helpful and unhelpful. Helpful events or moments were then identified and replayed on the videotape of the sessio ns to assist children's memory. The results suggest a diversity of experien ces according to the children's ages, gender and role in the family. Some c ommon assumptions were challenged by the findings, for example, that some c hildren preferred more directive and focused aspects of the therapy, rather than systemic questions which could inspire feelings of confusion and inad equacy.