Mediation or family therapy? Which to choose?

Throughout the evolutionary cycle of a couple or a family, it inevitably goes through multiple phases or situations in which, for very diverse factors (previous family peculiarities, unforeseen situations or, simply, due to the management of daily life where important decisions have to be made), its members have to face or adapt to these new realities to live. The optimal management of these situations favors the growth of the family, but on other occasions the crises generated can cause difficulties and conflicts of various kinds.

For these problems, the interventions that have been shown to be the most suitable and efficient are family therapy and family mediation, depending on the need for shorter and more specific interventions or for more extensive and longer periods of time.

• Related article: "The 8 types of family conflicts and how to manage them"

Family therapy and mediation: differences and similarities to choose well

Although these two ways of working with families have their own objectives and ways of proceeding, in many cases the distinction between them is not clear. In order to clarify the fields of action of both approaches, we are going to talk, albeit very generically (with the risk of simplification that this implies) their main characteristics and differences, which can help determine which would be the most suitable intervention alternative depending on each family and its needs.

Family therapy

The fundamental objectives of family therapy are evaluation, accompaniment, orientation and psychological treatment of any problem or clinical symptomatology presented by the family understood in their set. Although there is a specific symptom or demand that, of course, is attended to, the psychotherapeutic intervention is broader way, encompassing the dynamics and relational patterns of its members, in relation to the problem and, habitually, in connection with the history and biography of its members.

The temporal focus in psychotherapy is on the present, but in connection with the past: stories are explored and past experiences, understanding that the past is essential to understand what is happening to them at the moment current. In this sense, it is intended to understand and resolve underlying conflicts or not obvious to the naked eye due to the family dynamics itself.

Psychotherapy, therefore, has the general objective of accompanying and promoting deeper and structural changes that allow the family acquire greater coping resources both in moments of crisis caused by the passage from one stage to another in the family cycle, and in order to address and resolve underlying psychological or emotional conflicts. For these reasons, the duration is usually considerably longer than mediation, since it can be reduced to a few sessions.

Family mediation

Unlike psychotherapy, family mediation does not focus on psychological treatment, but on the management and resolution of specific and well-defined conflicts (for example, in a divorce, the custody and custody of children). In the event that larger underlying problems are detected, mediation would not be the appropriate approach, unless the intervention is very circumscribed to a specific objective and always as a complement to a therapy as a framework general.

The temporary focus on family mediation is on the present and, above all, on the future: it is attention, preferably, in manifest conflicts and in concrete and practical aspects such as, for example, decision-making regarding custody or visitation of children.

Mediation therefore consists of a cooperative conflict resolution process, in which the parties are encouraged to involved can communicate adequately and reach the agreements that they consider most appropriate according to their needs mutual.

• You may be interested: "How to mediate a conflict, in 5 steps"

Neutral attitude as a professional requirement

The family therapist, like the mediator, adopts a neutral attitude towards family members, although it is usually more directive in the sense that it evaluates, guides, advises, offers directions, proposes actions, etc., always with the purpose of favoring or provoking the change of dysfunctional dynamics and deeper relational patterns and general.

The family mediator, on the other hand, adopts a less directive role and communication facilitator (through the use of micro-techniques of communication), which helps participants to reflect on their conflicts and disagreements, encourage the creative search for alternatives possible, which allows them to make decisions and reach the mutual agreements that they consider most appropriate based on their needs and interests.

The decisions that people can reach freely and voluntarily are produced in a context of security and confidentiality, free from any type of coercion or reciprocal pressure and without the meter directing them in any way: it is the interested parties themselves who have to reach, if they consider it so, the agreements they deem. The mediator neither values ​​nor offers solutions to your problems.

Although one of the fundamental objectives of family mediation is for people to reach agreements that allow them to resolve their conflicts, on many occasions, the most important thing It is not so much the agreement itself, as generating a different and healthier relational space, as well as offering resources for the management of their conflicts, having a clear component preventive.

The legal aspects

When conflicts can have legal consequences (as, for example, in a divorce, with the consequent dissolution of the joint property partnership or disagreements in relation to with the custody and custody of minor children), mediation becomes the most convenient method to resolve these issues.

Following Law 5/2012, of July 6, on mediation in civil and commercial matters, through mediation you can reach draw up agreements that, in compliance with current regulations, can later be transformed into a legal document to give it character legal. For this, it is always convenient that the parties are at all times independently advised by their respective lawyers, before formalizing the agreement that will end up having legal effects.

A combination that works

As we can see, depending on the needs, one or the other approach will be the most appropriate, although, for Of course, they can also be complementary to offer comprehensive care to families and couples For this, it is necessary for professionals to be trained in both disciplines.

Diego Albarracín Garrido: Psychologist, family therapist, couples therapist and mediator at El Prado Psychologists.