TOP TEN MYTHS

ABOUT LICENSED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS

By Thomas Wright LMFT

1.      Family therapy is not really a separate specialty at all because any professional—physician, minister, social worker, psychiatrist, psychologist, school counselor, psychiatric nurse, policeman, probation officer—can work with families. This myth arises out of the confusion between working with families and family systems thinking. Family therapy is based on family systems thinking, which is a different way of understanding all human relationships, not just those relationships within the family. Instead of focusing solely on the individual, family therapy is concerned with the person in his or her social context. Context is central to all therapy conducted from within a family systems framework, including working with individuals.

2.      Marriage and family therapists are narrowly limited specialists, who can only work with couples or families. While this myth correctly acknowledges that family therapy is a legitimate specialty, it mistakenly assumes that the specialty is based on the type of clients we work with rather than a comprehensive theory of human behavior. Marriage and family therapists specialize in looking at human relationships and mental health issue in a systemic manner that recognizes the significance of interpersonal relationships and social context.

3.      Marriage and family therapists are not regular psychotherapists and cannot do individual therapy. Marriage and family therapists are fully qualified to work with a complete range of mental health issues. Marriage and family therapists address mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, bi-polar, character disorders — both when working with individual clients and when sitting with couples and families. Our specialty is based not who we treat, but on the theoretical premises and therapeutic strategies used to alleviate human suffering.

4.      Marriage and family therapists can't diagnosis mental illness, they can only assess relationship problems. This myth is based on a misunderstanding of our focus on relationships and the social context of behavior. Because we look at mental illness through the lens of interpersonal relationships and social context, some mistakenly assume we are not skilled in the clinical diagnosis of individual pathology. Marriage and family therapists are skilled in all forms of mental health diagnosis and treatment.

5.      Marriage and family therapists cannot do psychological assessments or testing. This myth may have as its origin the fact that the profession of psychology has long been associated with testing and assessment. Testing and assessment make up an important part of the curriculum in psychology training programs. However, marriage and family therapists who have taken specific training in the use of such instruments as the MMPI, 16PF, TAT, Wonderlic, Millon, Career Assessment Inventory, etc., can use these and other assessment instrument in their counseling work. (The following web site spells out the professional training or experience required in order to use many popular professional assessment tools.) http://www.pearsonassessments.com/forms/levels.htm

6.      Marriage and family therapists don’t “believe in” mental health diagnoses. This myth is a misunderstanding of the fact that family systems therapists often prefer the use of non-clinical language when talking to clients about their problems and issues. Diagnostic language is essentially a form of shorthand clinicians use when communicating among themselves. While this shorthand offers succinct summaries of client issues, it can be harmful when used with clients, especially when it puts them in a box. Jay Haley, a pioneer in the field of family therapy once remarked, “It is important to diagnose your clients in a manner that makes it possible for you to like them.”  Then, in an aside he continued, “Who would want to go to lunch with someone described in the DSM-IV?”

7.      Marriage and family therapists receive less training than psychologists and social workers. While this is definitely a myth, the opposite is often true. The licensing and continuing education requirements for marriage and family therapists are often more rigorous than those of other mental health professionals. Training, supervision and licensing requirements for marriage and family therapists are both rigorous and comprehensive.

8.      Marriage and family therapists can't work with children who have learning disabilities like ADHD. This is a myth. Marriage and family therapists work with children with all kinds of learning issues. In fact, because of our contextual focus, we are often more effective in helping children overcome learning problems due to our contextual focus. Many issues involving school performance and learning difficulties are deeply affected by the social and emotional context of the families. By taking this into consideration, marriage and family therapists get lasting results more quickly.

9.      Marriage and family therapists are not qualified to provide publicly funded mental health services. This myth is based on ignorance. Licensed marriage and family therapists with at least two years of post-master’s supervised experience in the delivery of clinical services in the treatment of mental illness are eligible for Minnesota Health Care Provider enrollment as individual providers of mental health services under the Minnesota Department of Human Services. See the following statue. http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&dDocName=id_009290

10.  Marriage and family therapists don't qualify for third party reimbursement because couples therapy is not covered by insurance.  Minnesota is a freedom of choice state. Consumers of mental health services are free to chose their mental health provider. Third party providers are required to treat marriage and family therapists the same as licensed social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists. While most third party reimbursement plans specifically exclude marriage as a covered diagnosis, they do cover related DSM-IV diagnostic codes for individuals. As is usually the case, marital difficulties affect the mental health of both partners. Consequently, it is appropriate to assign a mental health diagnosis to one of the partners.

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