Salvador Minuchin developed structural family therapy in the 1960s after working as a pediatrician in Argentina. After spending time exclusively working with children, he began to realize that treating them alone didn’t inherently solve their problems. His model of structural family therapy began as a way of identifying and treating problems within family systems. He believed that problems were not individually-based; instead, they were a function of the family’s homeostasis.

This therapy can help families struggling with various issues, such as trauma. It may also treat different high-risk situations, like single-parent households, families struggling with severe marital problems, or families with special-needs children.