Structured parallel therapy with parents in time-limited psychotherapy with children experiencing difficult family situations

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss how parallel therapy work with parents can be structured to achieve the goals of therapy with their children. Time-limited psychotherapy with children is a structured therapeutic method, where the goal and the number of sessions are contracted together with the child and parents. In this study, we focus on parallel parental therapy for three separate families whose children are experiencing difficult family situations. Six main themes emerge from our interviews with the parents and an analysis of session notes: The parents expressed positive experiences with the therapy; their perspectives about the family situation changed; they reported positive changes on behalf of the children, and they reported an increasing number of factors to explain these changes. In addition, a number of positive changes in the family situation itself were reported, and the parents were increasingly concerned with understanding their children’s expressions. Our findings indicate that this therapy method gives parents an opportunity for reflection and mentalization, which is found to be crucial to the child’s mental health. Based on these findings, we suggest some guidelines for effectively engaging in therapy work with parents.