Barbara McFarland – författare

My Mother Was Right focuses on the most fundamental and complicated connection of all--the mother-daughter relationship--to show that it is only after we learn to value, accept, and forgive our mothers that we are able to come to terms with ourselves. This truly inspirational and original book is written in the words of women from all walks of life including a Pulitzer Prize winning author, an Episcopal minister, a federal judge, and a vice-president of General Motors.

In straightforward, clear, and pragmatic language, McFarlandpresents a model that focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses,on solutions rather than problems, and on hope rather than despair.Her book should be on the shelf of every clinician who works withclients who have eating problems.--Scott D. Miller, Brief Therapy Network Drawing from her own clinical experience, Barbara McFarlanddemonstrates how solution-focused brief therapy is one of the moreefficient approaches in treating eating disorders. Her practical,hands on strategies and interventions guides you through each stepof the treatment process.

From the AuthorsSince writing my book, A Dream Within a Dream, in 2008, the enigmas of the Kiger family have slowly been peeled away, revealing pain, suffering, regret, and forgiveness. My wife, Barbara, a psychologist who has worked with adolescent girls and their families for the last thirty years, has been very curious as to how such a tragedy could have taken place in this seemingly normal family. After many late night discussions and debates, we decided to write a play exploring how this horrific incident affected the survivors, Joan and her mother. We wanted the play to highlight Joan as she transitioned from an innocent 15 year old to a 16 year old marred by fate and the legal system . And what about Jennie? What was life like for her after her family was totally destroyed by this inexplicable event?In our writing process, we each seemed to gravitate to those scenes which somehow spoke to something deep within us. For Barbara, it was the mother- daughter relationship and Joans metamorphosis: becoming the young woman who guides her mother toward forgiveness and truth; and for me, it was about the machinations of men interested more in their own fame, fortune and survival than in helping a troubled teenager.Our thanks to all who have contributed to the search for what happened to this family that fateful year of 1943 and to the Boone County Historical Society under the guidance of Asa Rouse and Bruce Ferguson who were the first to bring this story from the yellowed pages of sixty- year old newspapers to their recreation of the Kiger murder trial.

"e;Family is not an important thing. It is everything."e; This is the mantra of the Gurin family until a dark secret from the past is revealed driving their relationships to the crossroads of tragedy. While having their usual family dinner, without warning, Sophie brutally assaults Frank, her husband. Her violent behavior is witnessed by her two daughters, Addie, six and Mary, eight, and her mother, Irina, an immigrant from Poznan, Poland. Committed to a hospital, Sophie delves into painful flashbacks and dreams that involve a faceless man abusing a child. It isn t until some months later that she discovers through therapy that the little girl is her. Her shame about being abused forces her to keep it a secret from her family. The same is true for the humiliation she suffers about being a patient in a psychiatric unit for nearly a year. Sophie concocts a risky fictional account explaining her breakdown and hospitalization and demands that her mother and husband participate in this deception because she s fearful the truth would forever change the love her daughters feel for her. Told from multiple points of view, the story takes place in Chicago in 1965, and spans twenty years. Delving into the relationships of the Gurin women as mothers and daughters, the reader experiences the tender undersides of their love as well as the sharp edges which nearly destroy them. The heart of this book touches on the genuine compassion mothers and daughters need to be capable of when their disappointments go beyond what appears to be unforgivable.