Best Rehabs with Family Therapy

More About Family Therapy

Family therapy is a research-supported approach that addresses the needs of a family unit where one or more loved ones is experiencing active addiction or who is in early recovery. This form of therapy is designed to help you and your family rebuild trust, improve communication, and support long-term recovery for all.

What Is Family Therapy?

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy that addresses the needs of the entire family structure rather than focusing on one person alone.¹ It's built on the idea that a substance use disorder affects, and is affected by, your interpersonal relationships, roles, and communication patterns as a family.¹ A credentialed mental health professional, such as licensed marriage and family therapist, leads sessions that may include some or all of your family members, depending on what best fits your family’s therapeutic needs.² After assessing you and your family, your therapist will choose one or more approaches based on the gathered information.^1,2

Family therapy for addiction treatment can take several forms, including:³

• Multidimensional family therapy
• Functional family therapy
• Behavioral couples therapy
• Structural family therapy
• Brief strategic family therapy

Evidence-Based Care

Family therapy is supported through substantial research. For example, multiple randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews show that family-based approaches, including multidimensional family therapy and behavioral couples therapy, are linked to reduced substance use and improved family functioning, particularly among adolescents and young adults.⁴ The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recognizes family involvement in treatment as being linked to better client engagement and long-term recovery outcomes.¹

Who Family Therapy May Help

As with all other forms of therapies, family therapy works best when all members are committed to the process. It is common for some family members to experience difficulty with participation, especially at first, however the hope is that as sessions continue, these family members get more comfortable and begin to engage.

Family therapy can be effective in helping the following types of people:

• People in treatment for a substance use disorder, especially when family relationships play a role in recovery
• Spouses and partners, particularly when behavioral couples therapy is a good fit
• Parents and teens working through a teen's substance use and life transitions together
• Adult children working through relationship patterns connected to a parent's addiction or their own recovery
• Families managing a co-occurring mental health condition (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, or anxiety disorders) or chronic illness alongside substance use

It is important to note that family therapy generally isn't recommended if there's active domestic violence, ongoing abuse, or acute withdrawal, since these situations call for other kinds of support first.¹

What to Expect

Family therapy provides a different approach than individual talk therapy, and knowing what to expect can help you and your loved ones feel more prepared when the process starts. Consider the following:¹

1. Intake and assessment: Family therapy typically begins with a therapist gathering your family's history and learns about your specific situation.
2. Sessions: Sessions typically take place in an office setting, though many providers also offer online or video options for family members who can't attend in person.
3. The family gets involved: Your whole family may meet together, or your therapist may work with individual members first before bringing everyone into the same session.
4. Building skills: Early sessions focus on building trust, understanding how substance use has affected each person, and setting goals together as a family. As treatment continues, sessions often address communication skills, healthy boundaries, and how to support recovery without enabling substance use.

Family therapy can continue over time as your treatment progresses and include further psychoeducation, but the total number of sessions depends on your family's needs.

Related Treatment Approaches

• Couples Counseling: Focuses on the romantic partnership within the family system, similar to marriage counseling, and is often used alongside family therapy when a spouse or partner is affected by a loved one's substance use.
• Attachment-Based Family Therapy: A family systems therapy approach centered on repairing parent-child attachment patterns that can contribute to or result from substance use.
• Adult Child Therapy: Addresses relationship dynamics between adult children and parents, a common focus area within broader family counseling.
• Group Therapy: Brings multiple people together in a shared therapeutic setting, and is frequently paired with family counseling to build peer and family support skills.

Cost and Insurance

The cost of family therapy can vary based on several factors, including your location, the treatment setting, and how many sessions your family attends. Many insurance plans include some level of coverage for family therapy when it's part of a broader treatment plan, though coverage details differ by provider and policy.

Call your insurance company to directly confirm your plan’s specific benefits prior to starting family therapy. They can help provide a clearer picture of how much this type of therapy may cost based on your plan.

Discover a Path to Healing

If addiction has affected you and your family, family therapy can help rebuild trust, promote positive communication, and support healing together. Explore treatment options today and take the first step toward recovery as a family.

Sources

1. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2021). The importance of family therapy in substance use disorder treatment (Advisory Publication No. PEP20-02-02-016).
2. National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2025). Treatment and recovery. In Drugs, brains, and behavior: The science of addiction. National Institutes of Health.
3. Cleveland Clinic. (2022, November 11). Family Therapy.
4. Esteban, J., Suárez-Relinque, C., & Jiménez, T. I. (2023). Effects of family therapy for substance abuse: A systematic review of recent research. Family Process, 62(1), 49–73.