Multi-Family Therapy and In-Patient Treatment of Diabetes

Multi-Family Therapy (MFT) is a well established form of systemic therapy which has an increasingly strong evidence base. It is used for a whole range of presentations and conditions, in settings as diverse as child and adult psychiatry, Social Services and schools. Central ideas of the approach are the concept of "parental presence" and the focus on the family's own resources and its self-help potential. This article describes a project with a group of 10 adolescents, all diagnosed with Diabetes type 1, and their parents. During the adolescents' 2-week admission their parents join a 3-hour multi-family-therapy session. Working together with different families is rated as very helpful, especially by the parents, but the adolescents also report benefits. This includes perspective changes in both parents and adolescents, leading to more empathic and flexible views of other family members, particularly when addressing familiar conflicts. This approach promises new possibilities for developing different solutions when dealing with the frequently painful interactions in families with a member suffering from a chronic illness.