Family educational intervention and systemic therapy in adolescent internet addiction

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the theoretical fundaments of systemic family therapy to promote an appropriate use of the Internet in the adolescent user. The study of the concept of Internet addiction and especially the different risk profiles shows the need to look deeply into the family dynamics behind many cases of addiction. This work is based on a literature review that has followed a double standard: we have selected the latest publications taking into account the main sections of this article (Internet addiction, prior profile and pathology in teenagers and systemic family therapy). In this sense the literature review indicates different research works that propose family therapy as an intervention strategy in the treatment of addiction along with other therapies such as cognitive-behavioral. As a result, an educational response in the family will be able to strengthen the usual dynamics through an active approach to problems and a model of fluent communication between all components of family system. In this case, enjoying the use of online games in family will lead to generate shared goals, respect common rules, facilitate the involvement of the family and establish stronger and closer bonds: an adaptive and shared use of online game instead of avoiding it. An empirical research about the preventive and therapeutic efficacy of this theoretical proposal is not the aim of this paper.