Why Marriage and Family Therapy?

For those of you who are interested in studying Marriage and Family Therapy graduate school in California, you probably had done some research about the differences between Psychiatry, Psychology, School Counseling, and Marriage and Family Therapy.

There are more different schools in terms of different forms of therapy, i.e. Drama Therapy, Sand Tray Therapy, Art Therapy, and Play Therapy. However those schools are different in forms of how to conduct therapy. Hence I will be only discussing the bigger umbrella of the fundamental differences between Psychiatry, Psychology, School Counseling/Psychology, and Marriage and Family Therapy.

- Psychiatry: You have to go through a Medical School, become a M.D. in Psychiatry, gain residency training in a hospital then you can be licensed. You study about psychotropic medicine and prescribe medication for mental disorders. You'll need to complete four to five years of pre-med preparation, another four years of medical school, and three to seven years of residency.

- Psychology: Generally speaking, the degree is Psy.D, and you can take the licensing exam as a Clinical Psychologist after you complete your hours. The graduate school usually takes 5-8 years. You need to conduct scientific researches and write your thesis, and defend your thesis in order to receive your degree. In terms of philosophy and theory, they teach theories included, but are not limited to, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Behavioral Therapy, Existential Theory, Sigmund Freud, Ego Psychology, Object Relations, Self Psychology Theory, and Psychodynamics. In general, Clinical Psychologist focus on individuals and treat their mental illness such as Schizophrenia, Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, and other stress disorders such as PTSD.

- School Counseling/Psychology: You will graduate with a Master degree. The work population is school aged kids and their families usually suffer from difficulties with learning disorder and other children/adolescence diagnosis that is related to developmental delay. You learn more of psychological testing, individual education plan for the troubled children, and work in a school setting with Principal, Nurses, Teachers, Special Education...etc.

- Marriage Family Therapy: In California there are schools offering Master degree and Doctor degree for this specialty. Whether Master or Doctor, in order to be licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist, you have to complete 3000 hours in order to obtain the eligibility for the licensing exam. Marriage Family Therapy focuses on the systemic viewpoint of the problem, which is socially constructed by the small system (family) and large system (social norms) in a multicultural society. Because this post-modernism theory emphasizes on the social and family dynamics, it takes blame off the "troubled person." You will learn theories such as Structural Family Therapy (Minuchin), Strategic Family Therapy, Bowen Family Therapy, Narrative Therapy (Michael White), Solution-Focused Therapy, Collaborative Therapy (Harlene Anderson), and other schools such as John Gottman and Emotion Focused Therapy (Sue Johnson) to treat couples and families. To sum, Marriage and Family Therapist can treat individuals and also help families to solve their relational problems such as marital discard, dating relationships, parent-child relationships, in addition to Psychotic Disorders, Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, and Stress Disorders. Because families include children, you will also learn how to treat children with their diagnoses such as ADHD, Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mutism, Child Abuse, and Sexual Abuse. Also Domestic Violence is another filed that you will learn a lot in Marriage and Family Therapy schools.

Currently in California there are many counseling and psychology schools. Therefore, choosing a school of study that resonates with you the most is very important. The least thing you want is to devote yourself in the graduate studying process half way through and learn that you do not like the philosophy of your chosen profession, or you do not like the classes they teach.

Pay extra attention if you are studying counseling because you want to seek an understanding of your own struggles. It is not uncommon people who are studying counseling/psychology and at the same time facing varies problems in their lives, whether they consciously understand the struggles or not. They say therapists who empathize better with clients are those who had been through the same pain, which is true. However, in order to be a professional therapist, I strongly suggest you to seek professional help to find the answer for your own problem, rather than projecting those onto your cases and create co-dependent and unhealthy relationship with your clients. This is why most legitimate counseling schools recommend you to do your own personal therapy for at least 12 sessions before you can graduate from the program.

I personally like Marriage and Family Therapy because it speaks to my view of the problem resulting from home and the culture/society/social norms. You, as a prospective international student, will need to spend time researching which philosophy you like the most, study each potential school's curriculum, the descriptions of their classes, and the credentials of the faculties. If there are certain therapy you really like, i.e. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Psychodynamics, go find teachers who are masters in the field. I believe after your dedication in searching the right information, you can make a wise decision.

Good luck on your research.