PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
WHAT IS MFT?
The Federal government has designated Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) as a core mental health profession along with psychiatry, psychology, social work and psychiatric nursing. Marriage and family therapy emphasizes treating the social context of the person and not just the individual. Since a family's patterns of behavior influences the individual and therefore may need to be a part of the treatment plan, the unit of treatment isn't just the person - even if only a single person is interviewed - it is the set of relationships in which the person is imbedded. Currently 48 states also support and regulate the profession by licensing or certifying marriage and family therapists.
Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are mental health professionals trained in psychotherapy and family systems, and licensed to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders within the context of marriage, couples and family systems. Marriage and Family Therapists broaden the traditional emphasis on the individual to attend to the nature and role of individuals in primary relationship networks such as marriage and the family. MFTs take a holistic perspective to health care; they are concerned with the overall, long-term well-being of individuals and their families.
Marriage and family therapists treat a wide range of serious clinical
Research studies repeatedly demonstrate the effectiveness of marriage and family therapy in treating the full range of mental and emotional disorders and health problems. Adolescent drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, obesity and dementia in the elderly -- as well as marital distress and conflict -- are just some of the conditions Marriage and Family Therapists effectively treat. Studies also show that clients are highly satisfied with services of Marriage and Family Therapists. Clients report marked improvement in work productivity, co-worker relationships, family relationships, partner relationships, emotional health, overall health, social life, and community involvement
http://www.aamft.org/faqs/index_nm.asp
