As most of you know, your environment as a child had a profound impact on the person you became, and continue to evolve in.

Simply, the Family of Origin therapy allows us to understand your past, and see how that relates to your present situations and evolvement.

Some therapeutic approaches do directly address families of origin. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) mainly examines current beliefs and thoughts. They may originate in our family experience, but CBT focuses on the present tense and does not generally look at the past. Solution focused therapists also tend not to explore family of origin issues.

For instance, Family of Origin treatment might reveal that a woman raised in a chaotic and abusive home environment has “learned” that domestic violence is normal, that men and women typically act aggressively towards one another, that conflict normally escalates to physical abuse, that the victims of abuse somehow provoked the attack, and that abusers must be placated or avoided but never held responsible for their actions. These pieces of information may have become part of this woman’s belief system, with devastating consequences on her sense of boundaries and how to form a healthy relationship with others.