How to Choose a Family Therapist in Texarkana

Andrew Geren, M.A. • October 1, 2025

How to Choose a Family Therapist in Texarkana

Choosing a family therapist in Texarkana requires finding someone who can work effectively with multiple family members and understand the complex dynamics that affect family relationships. The right therapist should have experience with family systems therapy and be skilled at helping everyone feel heard while working toward positive changes.

Look for a professional who can address the specific challenges your family is facing while building stronger communication and understanding among all family members.

What Family Therapy Experience Should You Look For?

Seek a therapist with specific training in family systems approaches and experience working with families facing similar challenges to yours. They should understand how family patterns develop over time and be skilled at helping family members change unhelpful dynamics together.

Ask about their experience with families of your size and composition, whether they've worked with your specific concerns before, and how they typically structure family sessions to ensure everyone participates effectively in the healing process.

How Do You Prepare Your Family for Therapy?

Prepare your family by explaining that therapy is a safe place to work on family relationships and that everyone's feelings and perspectives matter. Help family members understand that the goal is to strengthen your family connections, not to blame or fix any one person.

Encourage openness while acknowledging that it might feel uncomfortable at first. Many families find that having professional guidance helps them develop better communication patterns and resolve long-standing issues that have been affecting everyone.

What Can You Expect from the Family Therapy Process?

Family therapy typically involves sessions with different combinations of family members depending on your specific needs. Sometimes the whole family meets together, and sometimes the therapist works with smaller groups or individuals to address particular dynamics.

The process focuses on understanding how family patterns contribute to current problems and developing new ways of interacting that support everyone's well-being. You'll learn skills for handling disagreements, supporting each other through challenges, and maintaining healthy family relationships long-term.

Why Texarkana Families Choose Professional Support

Texarkana's position on the Texas-Arkansas border brings together diverse family traditions and values, creating unique opportunities for both connection and misunderstanding within families. The area's blend of Southern hospitality and frontier independence means families often value both harmony and individual expression.

Local families appreciate working with therapists who understand this cultural mix and can help them navigate differences while maintaining family unity. Professional support helps families build skills for resolving conflicts constructively while honoring both traditional family values and modern relationship dynamics.

If your family is struggling with communication or relationship challenges, Andrew Geren, M.A. provides experienced family therapy for the Texarkana area. Call (318) 200-0065 to learn how professional family support can strengthen your relationships and improve family harmony.

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How I View Psychotropic Drugs (A Funny Parable)

May 16, 2025
A man goes to the doctor because he’s feeling stressed and afraid. He mentions that he’s overwhelmed with bills he can’t pay, and he doesn’t know how to save money or increase his income. The doctor sees how anxious he is and tells him he has “anxiety.” He prescribes 20 mg of an antidepressant and sends him on his way. A couple months later, the man returns and says the meds seemed to work—until his electricity was shut off. Then the anxiety came back full force. The doctor explains that sometimes the dosage needs adjusting to be effective and doubles the prescription to 40 mg. A few months later, the man is back again. He says the meds were helping—until his house got robbed. He adds that the security cameras didn’t catch anything because, well, they haven’t had power in months. Once again, the doctor increases his medication, this time to 60 mg, and explains that “these things take time” and “finding the right dosage is tricky.” At this point, the man, frustrated, asks:
“Don’t you think maybe a person should feel anxious sometimes? Don’t you think fear might be a sign that I need to act—like getting the lights turned back on or protecting my home? Don’t you think maybe God designed for people to feel afraid, or depressed, or sad, for good reasons?” The doctor, somewhat offended, responds:
“Absolutely not! I’m a man of science! And science agrees: anxiety is a disorder that requires treatment. Anyone who believes we’re meant to feel this way is just a fool.” Shocked by the insult, the patient says:
“Well, maybe science makes mistakes. Maybe being afraid or anxious is what makes us human. Maybe you should feel anxious—like if I leave you a bad review, or file a complaint, or even sue you.” The doctor shrugs and says:
“You think I care? You think anything scares me? I’m on 100 mg of that stuff. Nothing scares me!” And that, dear reader, is how I feel about psychotropic drugs. The end.

Coping with Grief: Love With Nowhere to Go

May 6, 2025
Grief is one of the most powerful emotions we can experience—second only, perhaps, to rage. It strikes with force, often catching us off guard, and refuses to follow a predictable path. You’ve probably heard of the “five stages of grief.” Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. But these stages were never meant to be a checklist. In fact, they were originally observations—common emotional responses during bereavement—not a fixed process that everyone moves through in the same order. The truth is, grief doesn’t come in stages. It comes in waves—sometimes gentle, sometimes crushing. It can sneak up quietly or arrive like a storm. And just when you think you've moved forward, a memory can pull you right back in. One of the most meaningful ways I’ve ever heard grief described is this: “Grief is love with nowhere to go.” Grief is not just sadness. It’s the echo of love we still carry, without a place to send it. When we lose someone, the love we held for them doesn’t disappear. It just… floats. We can't go back and say the things we wish we'd said. We can't share one more moment, one more hug. That absence—of connection, of expression—can feel unbearable. And yet, the pain of grief is also a measure of love. You grieve because you cared. You hurt because you loved deeply. That’s not a flaw—it’s a reflection of your capacity for connection. So if you're grieving, be gentle with yourself. Don’t try to force your healing into tidy steps. Let your grief come. Let it speak. Let it ache. And when you’re ready, find new ways to honor that love—through memory, meaning, and connection with others who understand. Grief never truly leaves. But with time, we learn how to carry it differently. And in doing so, we rediscover the depth—and beauty—of the love that caused it in the first place.

Why Therapy Became Shy About Feelings (And Why That Needs to Change)

April 25, 2025
At some point, the therapy world became uncomfortable talking about feelings. We were shamed out of it—mocked by pop culture, misrepresented by media, and misunderstood by a public that equated emotional work with being “soft” or overly simplistic. As a result, many therapists have pivoted toward problem-solving, cognitive techniques, or behavioral plans, often at the expense of emotions themselves. This shift has cost us dearly. It’s not always crucial to understand why we feel something—but it’s essential that we feel it. Trying to bypass emotions in favor of logic is like trying to walk with a thorn stuck in your foot. The more you ignore it, the more the pain screams for your attention. Likewise, emotions don’t go away when you ignore them; they just fester. Before we can problem-solve or make lasting change, we have to honor what we feel. Emotions don’t require justification. They just need acknowledgment. They are signals—not flaws. In my opinion, the field began drifting from emotional work partly because of how therapy was portrayed in media. The trope of the therapist robotically asking, “And how does that make you feel?” became an easy punchline. Unfortunately, that stereotype left many therapists afraid of seeming cliché, so they turned away from emotional inquiry altogether. Ironically, I rarely ask clients, “How does that make you feel?” Instead, I might ask: “What do you feel when you recall that moment?” “What does it feel like to be in your shoes?” “Can you sit with that feeling for a moment and notice what comes up?” That nuance matters. Saying something “made me feel” a certain way implies the emotion was caused or imposed, as though feelings need permission to exist. But they don’t. They arise naturally—and honoring them helps us connect, both to ourselves and to others. Empathy, insight, and real healing begin there. It’s time to return to what therapy does best: helping people feel, not just think. Because real transformation doesn’t come from avoiding feelings—it comes from feeling them fully and safely.