“All happy families resemble one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina

Although each unhappy family may be unhappy in its own way, couples experience similar challenges of family life, including the need to learn to live together, deal with difficult relatives, and raise children, who present their own challenges. They also may have to deal with job loss, substance abuse, depression, an “empty nest,” the hospitalization of a family member due to mental illness, or the death of a loved one. Of even greater concern is spousal abuse or the threat of divorce.

Some of these issues may be addressed in couple therapy. However, because family members influence each other, and the focus in family therapy is on understanding and, as needed, changing the organization of the family, such therapy may be more effective. Family therapy can help family members to learn to cope with or resolve their issues and, when moving forward, to make choices that help to ensure better outcomes. The assumption that underlies family therapy is that, when family life is transformed, the life of each family member also is transformed.

In family therapy, Dr. Dity Brunn provides a safe and non-judgmental setting in which she comes to understand, through empathic listening, the family’s culture, beliefs, rituals, motivations, and actions as well as the role of each individual member of the family. She maintains a simultaneous focus on the family as a whole and on the individual, reinforcing the positive and productive aspects of a relationship while, at the same time, identifying the values, attitudes and behavior that may be contributing to the family’s and individuals’ unhappiness.

Dr. Brunn then develops a treatment plan based on the whole family’s and each individual member’s circumstances, needs, and strengths. Because each member of the family is affected by the treatment, improvement in one family member reinforces improvement in other family members, leading to a positive cycle that results in long-term, stable change. In these ways, Dr. Brunn helps families to learn to address their challenges and to make changes that can move them from unhappiness to happiness.