Jason Wasser, LMFT 🎗️Founder, Shevet Collective · Therapy & Coaching for Entrepreneurs, Family Businesses 🖥 Certified Neuro Emotional Technique Practitioner Founder Shevet Collective 🎧Host:You Winning Life Podcast 🎤

Philosophy vs. Approach: Unpacking Your Core Beliefs #shorts

26 Jan 2026 · 2 min

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1:32

In a brief dialogue, Speaker A asks whether ‘philosophy’ and ‘approach’ differ. Speaker B, a marriage and family therapist, explains that marriage and family therapy (MFT) is often misnamed; it is not limited to marriages or families but is grounded in systemic and relational dynamics. He notes that MFT emerged from systems theory rather than as a break from traditional psychology. He defines ‘philosophy’ as the therapist’s and client’s underlying beliefs, cultural and gender assumptions, and inherited expectations, while ‘approach’ refers to how those beliefs manifest in internal and external relationships. The conversation highlights the importance of examining and sorting these beliefs to determine their health and authenticity within relational contexts.

Chapters

Did I hear you say that there's a difference between philosophy and approach? Meaning like those two words mean different things to you?
Yeah, in my practice specifically, right, marriage and family therapy, which I want to— maybe this is a great, you know, way to share this. Marriage and family therapy is a misnomer when it comes to certain states in America that have that license, as if we only do marriages or families. We are actually systemically trained, relational dynamics trained. Now, when you think about it, like, what's the most common relational dynamics? Marriages and families versus like going to individual therapy and, you know, traditional psychology. So the marriage and family therapy world didn't necessarily arrive as a breakaway from psychology and Freud and all that other stuff. It actually came up through systems theory and relational dynamics of how do things work as they interact with things going on inside and outside of them. So it could be you, the business owner, or you, right, all the parts of yourself, right? You, the, you, the family member, you, the friend, you, the boss, you, the pet owner, right? You, the whatever it might be, and your beliefs, assumptions, and expectations about that. So again, philosophy would be, what are your beliefs? What are your cultural beliefs? What are your gender beliefs? Things that you've inherited that may not be authentically yours, or things that you picked up along the way from the time you were born till now that we get to sift and sort through to say, is this healthy for you? Are these beliefs authentic to you? And then how does that play out in your relationships, both internally and externally?