Kalman Flomenhaft – författare

This volume on Family Therapy Training, edited by Kalman Flomenhaft, Ph. D. and Adolph E. Christ, M. D. , is the outgrowth of a successful conference on Family Therapy in the Training of Child Psychiatrists sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry at the Downstate Medical Center on December 8 and 9, 1978. The attendance and enthusiastic participation at this conference reflected the growing interest on the part of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in the theory, practice, and teaching of family therapy. That the conference was held at all presupposed the value that psychiatric educators are attaching to the incorporation of family therapy teaching in the educational development of psychiatrists. While the conference was dedicated to family therapy training for child psychiatrists, this volume is broadened to include family therapy training for all psychiatrists and mental health profes­ sionals. The various chapters delineate the issues in the teaching of family therapy, both theoretical and practical. The richness of the chapters that follow grows out of the depth of practical experience of the various authors in developing family therapy training in established programs where resistance to new ideas as well as structural changes in curriculum are predictable. The nature of both the theoretical and practical aspects of such resistances is well described. The authors also emphasize what is required to launch a successful training program in child psychiatry, stressing the importance of attractive role models as teachers of family therapy.

This volume on Family Therapy Training, edited by Kalman Flomenhaft, Ph. D. and Adolph E. Christ, M. D. , is the outgrowth of a successful conference on Family Therapy in the Training of Child Psychiatrists sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry at the Downstate Medical Center on December 8 and 9, 1978. The attendance and enthusiastic participation at this conference reflected the growing interest on the part of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in the theory, practice, and teaching of family therapy. That the conference was held at all presupposed the value that psychiatric educators are attaching to the incorporation of family therapy teaching in the educational development of psychiatrists. While the conference was dedicated to family therapy training for child psychiatrists, this volume is broadened to include family therapy training for all psychiatrists and mental health profes­ sionals. The various chapters delineate the issues in the teaching of family therapy, both theoretical and practical. The richness of the chapters that follow grows out of the depth of practical experience of the various authors in developing family therapy training in established programs where resistance to new ideas as well as structural changes in curriculum are predictable. The nature of both the theoretical and practical aspects of such resistances is well described. The authors also emphasize what is required to launch a successful training program in child psychiatry, stressing the importance of attractive role models as teachers of family therapy.

The past decade has brought extraordinary gains in the outlook for children stricken with cancer. Though cancer remains a leading cause of death for children and young adults, more victims of child­ hood cancer today will survive than will die. The therapeutic advances and the optimism they instill have prompted researchers and clinicians to analyze the impact of cancer upon young patients and their famil,ies and to devise more effective intervention strategies. Hope and survival, juxtaposed with the continuing high mortality associated with certain forms of the illness, add new challenges to management of the psychosocial aspects of cancer. To respond to these challenges we need research as rigorous as that which continues to make inroads in treating the physical illness. This specific concern for the needs of children suffering from cancer and their families has paralleled an increasing sensitivity on the part of the medical community and the public at large to the limitations of specialized, high technology health care practices.