Family therapy has been especially effective in dealing with these problems:
* problems due to conflicts among family members
* emotional disturbances in children
* some cases of schizophrenia where members of the family are frequently not well-individuated—each person's identity is so bound up with the outlooks and behavior of other family members that no one has a clear sense of his or her own personal identity and separateness
* problems that are interlocking, where the difficulties of one member of the family cannot be resolved without the cooperation of the others
* problems experienced by a family when a child becomes old enough to leave home
Family therapy has been much less effective in treating paranoia in one member of the family, and behavioral problems stemming from sexual disorders.
Marriage therapy has been effective in helping couples with any of these characteristics or problems:
* They communicate and interact in ways that lead to conflict, frustration, anger, and unhappiness.
* They are insufficiently sensitive to one another's needs.