Family and family therapy in the Netherlands

This article describes how families are functioning in the Netherlands, and how family therapy is used in mental healthcare. In the open Dutch society, new ideas are easily incorporated, as exemplified by the rapid introduction and growth of family therapy in the 1980s. In recent decades, however, family therapy has lost ground to other treatment models that are more individually orientated, and adhere to stricter protocols. This decline of family therapy has been exacerbated by recent budget cuts in mental healthcare. In regular healthcare institutes family therapy now has a marginal position at best, although family treatment models are used in specific areas such as forensic treatments. In addition, the higher trained family therapists have found their own niches to work with couples and families. We argue that a stronger position of family therapy would be beneficial for patients and for families, in order to counteract the strong individualization of Dutch society.