Three adult children were leaning heavily on their parents. Two were unemployed, all lived in million-dollar homes, and each was receiving $30,000-a-month handouts from their 70-year-old retired parents.

Fed up and wishing their children would behave better, the parents enlisted the help of Nashville-based financial therapist Ted Klontz.

But instead of speaking to the children, Mr. Klontz, who has a Ph.D. in psychology, worked with the couple to get over their guilt about not having been better parents. In group therapy, in which some members played the role of the children, he had the parents tell the surrogate 'kids' what they felt guilty about and ask for their forgiveness.

He also encouraged the parents to meet with each child and tell them that starting in six months their subsidies would be reduced by 20% a month, and would stop completely after five months. The couple agreed to have their banker hold them to their commitment.

In the end, the subsidies stopped within a year. And although the children were at first angry and accused their parents of being selfish, they eventually realized their only option was to spend less and get a job, Mr. Klontz says.

Mr. Klontz is part of the growing field of financial therapy, which seeks in part to help clients understand the emotional triggers and experiences that may prompt them to make poor financial decisions. Financial therapy may help clients communicate better about money, uncover irrational financial fears and empower them to follow their adviser's recommendations. Mental-health professionals and financial advisers are both specializing in this area and sometimes team up to better serve clients.

'People aren't always rational when it comes to their financial decisions,' says Sonya Britt, president of the Manhattan, Kan.-based Financial Therapy Association, which was formed about two years ago and has about 300 members.

To be sure, not all financial advisers agree therapy should be a part of the planning process.

'We [certified financial planners] should respect the limits of our expertise,' says Buz Livingston, a Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., certified financial planner.

And, since the field is so new, there isn't sufficient research to prove if it works or not, Ms. Britt concedes.

Still, proponents say there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest financial therapy can be invaluable. After all, says Dan Danford, a Saint Joseph, Mo.-based certified financial planner, most clients walk through the door with 'financial baggage.'

Mr. Danford says for some older clients, Depression-era stories can be haunting. One woman shared how her grandparents had 'lost everything' in the Depression and she was afraid the same thing would happen to her.

The woman, who was in her early 70s, wanted to move her entire portfolio into cash, but Mr. Danford feared she might run out of money, given her health and life expectancy.

By encouraging the client to talk about the source of her fears and reminding her how her situation was different from that of her ancestors, Mr. Danford says he helped her see that many of her concerns were irrational. In the end, she decided to keep her small equity exposure.

Maggie Baker, a Philadelphia-based clinical psychologist who focuses on money issues, recently worked with a two-career couple whose spending habits were interfering with their marriage. The couple's money was in a joint account and neither could accept the other's financial choices. Each one wanted the other to change.

'The wife was a saver and the husband a spender,' says Ms. Baker, who has a doctorate in psychology.

Ms. Baker helped them empathize with and recognize things they envied about their partner. Ms. Baker also encouraged the couple to create separate accounts and pay into a joint account for shared expenses.

The couple agreed. 'Now when he spends money, she doesn't care because her money is being saved, and he is happy because he's no longer being judged for what he wants to do,' Ms. Baker says.

Psychologist Marty Martin in Chicago, who holds a doctorate in psychology, often jointly counsels clients with financial advisers Michelle and Cicily Maton. When their clients consent, Mr. Martin will attend meetings, acting at times as communication coach or observer. If, for example, he notices a client seems frustrated or confused, he might ask a question the client could be embarrassed to ask.

For an overly anxious client, he might create a step-by-step action plan so the client can implement his or her adviser's recommendations more easily.

Rick Kahler, a certified financial planner in Rapid City, S.D., says he had an elderly couple who disagreed for years about their estate plan for their blended family. They disagreed about how much and when they should each leave money to their combined children.

What they each wanted wasn't in their own best interest, Mr. Kahler adds. The husband wanted to leave everything to his wife upon his death, and then have his children inheritwhatever was left upon her passing. But the wife wanted to give his kids their inheritance upon his death, which would reduce what she would receive.

Eventually Mr. Kahler brought in a therapist to help. The couple quarreled for 90 minutes as Mr. Kahler and an assistant slipped in and out of the room to crunch numbers based on the couple's conflicting wishes.

The therapist got them talking about issues neither had been able to articulate clearly before