The family systems approach to treating families of persons with brain injury: a potential collaboration between family therapist and brain injury professional

Although brain injury may have a great impact on the family as a whole, family reactions are not adequately addressed in rehabilitative programmes. When they are, treatment tends to be approached from a family education and support perspective and not from a family therapy perspective. The aim of the following paper is to illustrate the important role that a family systems approach can play in treating families of individuals with brain injury. In particular, clinical examples taken from the literature will be presented that illustrate how family roles can be modified as a consequence of a brain injury, and the importance of re-establishing or re-distributing these roles. It will be argued that an intimate collaboration between family therapist and brain injury professional is essential, and that the ideal professional make-up of clinicians working with families of persons with brain injury are those well-versed in both brain injury rehabilitation and family therapy.