Four Red Flags In Family Communication Styles and How To Spot Them

Have you ever walked out of a session knowing something felt off — tense, charged, heavy — but struggled to find the clinical language to describe it? In this episode, I unpack a deceptively simple framework that gives therapists a more precise lens for what's actually happening in the room.This is the audio version of my free weekly family therapy newsletter. Subscribe to it here: https://www.mypeoplepatterns.com/newsletters/family-systems-h-i-t-newsletter/subscribeRead More about me, and Oliver Drakeford Therapy here: In every exchange between people carries two simultaneous signals: status (where each person positions themselves in terms of power) and warmth (the emotional attitude beneath the words). These two axes operate independently — someone can be warm and controlling at the same time, or cold and deferential — and learning to track both can sharpen your clinical observations considerably. This is so helpful to understand in family therapy sessions and gives us a way to interpret and intervene.