Family therapy has been recommended as a counseling modality for gifted adolescents and their families. The purpose of this article is to propose and discuss 3 guiding questions that can help counselors conceptualize and differentiate family therapy with gifted and talented adolescents: (1) What is the problem? (2) Who is in the room? and (3) What approach to family therapy will be most effective? For each question, we first summarize relevant family therapy theory and research. Then, we provide recommendations based on a small, but growing literature on counseling with families of gifted and talented youth plus our own clinical experience as family therapists working with families of gifted and talented adolescents. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this literature for clinical practice, counselor training, parents of gifted adolescents, and future research.
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