ABSTRACT
Despite four decades of research documenting their efficacy, family-based treatments are still vastly underutilized for treating children and adolescents with serious mental health conditions. The mental health system has a long-standing implicit bias toward individual-focused treatments (e.g., individual therapy, IOP programs, etc.). The relationship between family functioning and the severity of mental health issues (e.g., depression, suicidal thoughts) creates a compelling argument for making family-focused therapy a first-line treatment. In addition to being highly effective, family therapy also reduces healthcare costs relative to individual therapy. This chapter also summarizes the relevant research pertaining to seven existing evidence-based models of family-based treatments: functional family therapy, multidimensional family therapy, multisystemic family therapy, brief strategic family therapy, attachment-based family therapy, emotionally focused family therapy, and emotion-focused family therapy.
