Guilford Family Therapy Series – serie

This acclaimed, influential workapplies the concepts of systemic family therapy to the emotional life of congregations. Edwin H. Friedman shows how the same understanding of family process that can aid clergy in their pastoral role also has important ramifications for negotiating congregational dynamics and functioning as an effective leader. Clergy from diverse denominations, as well as family therapists and counselors, have found that this book directly addresses the dilemmas and crises they encounter daily. It is widely used as a text in courses on pastoral care, leadership, and family systems.

If individuals cannot adequately be understood without reference to the family system, families themselves are comprehensible only in a broader social context. FAMILIES AND LARGER SYSTEMS is the first single-author book on families and larger systems designed specifically for the practicing therapist. It offers rich descriptions of the difficulties families and larger systems often pose for one another; presents a detailed assessment model for therapists; and provides a careful interviewing format as well as directions for designing creative interventions. Imber-Black offers a consultation model for dealing with families and larger systems who have become embroiled with one another, and methods for longer term work with those families who must engage with larger systems across significant portions of their life cycle, due to illness, handicaps, or poverty. Problems of labeling, stigma, and secrecy in families are addressed, and an entire chapter is devoted to women's issues in families and related systems.Utilizing numerous case illustrations and interview excerpts, Dr, Imber-Black first delineates the problems common to family-larger system situations, analyzing the origins of these interactions, the assessment model and interviewing methods used, and the design and implementation of intervention. In the second half of her book, she presents in-depth discussions of strategies for improving the relationship between families and related systems. Through concrete example and hands-on analysis, Imber-Black shows how the misconceptions, assumptions, and subsequent labeling of family functioning and family members give rise to stalemated situations.FAMILIES AND LARGER SYSTEMS provides a practical guide for all clinicians regardless of theoretical orientation. Therapists who wish to maintain a career in public sector settings, such as mental health clinics, hospitals, and schools, will find in this volume direction for effective work with families and the maintenance of good working relationships with colleagues. Therapists in private practice will discover that Imber-Black's model will aid their conceptualization of cases that have involved multiple therapists or other practitioners.Much of the material presented will also be useful to human services workers, both professional and paraprofessional, in welfare, child welfare, probation, drug counseling, schools and other institutions. The book's ecological viewpoint, which enables such professionals to see their own position in the system, also helps them to avoid the traps of replicating existing patterns, and to position themselves for therapeutic change.Finally, this book will be of interest to human service system administrators and program planners. The case examples offer a seldom seen view of the struggles families and multiple helpers can have with one another, while its theoretical models can be utilized to assess current inter-systematic functioning among larger systems in a community, with implications for program design and burn-out prevention.

Men have long been considered difficult to engage in psychotherapy, often being described as resistant, unworkable, and unfeeling. The few available books that deal specifically with men's issues tend to lack a central theoretical focus, are highly psychoanalytic in content, or simply do not provide specific guidelines for working with men. This unique and timely volume fills an important gap in the literature by demonstrating why change is often so difficult for them. It provides detailed guidelines for helping men initiate and sustain change in their personal, familial, and professional lives.

The late Carl Whitaker's enormous insight and clinical expertise made themselves felt in virtually every area of psychotherapy. His most significant writings are collected in this volume.

Showing how to weave assessment into all phases of therapy, this indispensable text and practitioner guide is reader friendly, straightforward, and practical. Specific strategies are provided for evaluating a wide range of clinical issues and concerns with adults, children and adolescents, families, and couples. The authors demonstrate ways to use interviewing and other techniques to understand both individual and relationship functioning, develop sound treatment plans, and monitor progress. Handy mnemonics help beginning family therapists remember what to include in assessments, and numerous case examples illustrate what the assessment principles look like in action with diverse clients.See also the authors' Essential Skills in Family Therapy, Third Edition: From the First Interview to Termination, which addresses all aspects of real-world clinical practice, and Clinician's Guide to Research Methods in Family Therapy.

This volume offers the first in-depth and comprehensive view on the reflecting team process, a new and original set of ideas and practices that is transforming the field of family therapy. Bringing together an international group of pioneering contributors, this book advances a concept of therapy as a public and participatory forum in which many voices are heard and affirmed. Therapeutic teams and audiences provide a wealth of creative possibilities as client and therapist collaborate to find new meanings and options for action, opening space for family (and community) change. Through both theoretical presentations and detailed clinical transcripts, the contributors illustrate the benefits and utility of applying the reflecting team approach in a wide variety of clinical contexts.

Virtually all significant relationships are shadowed by a third party-another person, a competing distraction, or even a memory. This groundbreaking book provides clinicians with a hands-on guide to working with many different kinds of relationship triangles in therapy with families, couples, and individuals. The authors show why triangles come into being, how to predict their evolving nature, and how they can be dealt with and resolved in treatment. A wealth of clinical case material and treatment suggestions illustrates how thinking in terms of threes, as well as individuals and dyads, can greatly increase therapeutic flexibility and effectiveness. The paperback edition includes a new series editor's note by Michael P. Nichols.

Featuring case presentations by many of the most distinguished practitioners of couple and family therapy, this volume brings to life the full spectrum of approaches in the field. The cases illustrate the principles and techniques of the respective approaches and allow the reader to listen in on highly skilled therapists at work. Editor Frank Dattilio comments on each case with a focus on ways to integrate systemic and cognitive-behavioral approaches. He suggests ways that cognitive principles might usefully be called upon at specific points. Responses from contributors consider the benefits of Dattilio's suggestions and elucidate each practitioner's decision-making process.See also Dattilio's authored book, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy with Couples and Families, which combines the empirical research base with practical clinical guidance.Â

Working with clients who abuse drugs or alcohol poses formidable challenges to the clinician. Addicted persons are often confronting multiple, complex problems, from the denial of the addiction itself, to legacies of early trauma or abuse, to histories of broken relationships with parents, spouses, and children. Making matters more confusing, the treatment field is too often splintered into different approaches, each with its own competing claims. This eloquently written book proposes a narrative approach that builds a much-needed bridge between family therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and addictions counseling. Demonstrated are innovative, flexible ways to help clients form new understandings of what has happened in their lives, explore their relationships to drugs and alcohol, and develop new stories to guide and nourish their recovery.

Featuring case presentations by many of the most distinguished practitioners of couple and family therapy, this volume brings to life the full spectrum of approaches in the field. The cases illustrate the principles and techniques of the respective approaches and allow the reader to listen in on highly skilled therapists at work. Editor Frank Dattilio comments on each case with a focus on ways to integrate systemic and cognitive-behavioral approaches. He suggests ways that cognitive principles might usefully be called upon at specific points. Responses from contributors consider the benefits of Dattilio's suggestions and elucidate each practitioner's decision-making process.See also Dattilio's authored book, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy with Couples and Families, which combines the empirical research base with practical clinical guidance.

This book provides a theoretical framework and a practical model of intervention for distressed couples whose relationships are affected by the echoes of trauma. Combining attachment theory, trauma research, and emotionally focused therapeutic techniques, Susan M. Johnson guides the clinician in modifying the interactional patterns that maintain traumatic stress and fostering positive, healing relationships among survivors and their partners. In-depth case material brings to life the process of assessment and treatment with couples coping with the impact of different kinds of trauma, including childhood abuse, serious illness, and combat experiences. The concluding chapter features valuable advice on therapist self-care.

Working with clients who abuse drugs or alcohol poses formidable challenges to the clinician. Addicted persons are often confronting multiple, complex problems, from the denial of the addiction itself, to legacies of early trauma or abuse, to histories of broken relationships with parents, spouses, and children. Making matters more confusing, the treatment field is too often splintered into different approaches, each with its own competing claims. This eloquently written book proposes a narrative approach that builds a much-needed bridge between family therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and addictions counseling. Demonstrated are innovative, flexible ways to help clients form new understandings of what has happened in their lives, explore their relationships to drugs and alcohol, and develop new stories to guide and nourish their recovery.

This book provides a theoretical framework and a practical model of intervention for distressed couples whose relationships are affected by the echoes of trauma. Combining attachment theory, trauma research, and emotionally focused therapeutic techniques, Susan M. Johnson guides the clinician in modifying the interactional patterns that maintain traumatic stress and fostering positive, healing relationships among survivors and their partners. In-depth case material brings to life the process of assessment and treatment with couples coping with the impact of different kinds of trauma, including childhood abuse, serious illness, and combat experiences. The concluding chapter features valuable advice on therapist self-care.

Virtually all significant relationships are shadowed by a third party-another person, a competing distraction, or even a memory. This groundbreaking book provides clinicians with a hands-on guide to working with many different kinds of relationship triangles in therapy with families, couples, and individuals. The authors show why triangles come into being, how to predict their evolving nature, and how they can be dealt with and resolved in treatment. A wealth of clinical case material and treatment suggestions illustrates how thinking in terms of threes, as well as individuals and dyads, can greatly increase therapeutic flexibility and effectiveness. The paperback edition includes a new series editor's note by Michael P. Nichols.

Showing how to weave assessment into all phases of therapy, this indispensable text and practitioner guide is reader friendly, straightforward, and practical. Specific strategies are provided for evaluating a wide range of clinical issues and concerns in adults, children and adolescents, families, and couples. The authors demonstrate ways to use interviewing and other techniques to understand both individual and relationship functioning, develop sound treatment plans, and monitor progress. Handy mnemonics help beginning family therapists remember what to include in assessments, and numerous case examples illustrate what the assessment principles look like in action with diverse clients.See also the authors' Essential Skills in Family Therapy, Third Edition: From the First Interview to Termination, which addresses all aspects of real-world clinical practice, and Clinician's Guide to Research Methods in Family Therapy.

This acclaimed, influential work applies the concepts of systemic family therapy to the emotional life of congregations. Edwin H. Friedman shows how the same understanding of family process that can aid clergy in their pastoral role also has important ramifications for negotiating congregational dynamics and functioning as an effective leader. Clergy from diverse denominations, as well as family therapists and counselors, have found that this book directly addresses the dilemmas and crises they encounter daily. It is widely used as a text in courses on family systems and pastoral care.

Solution-focused therapy is often misunderstood to be no more than the techniques it is famous for—pragmatic, future-oriented questions that encourage clients to reconceptualize their problems and build on their strengths. Yet when applied in a "one-size-fits-all" manner, these techniques may produce disappointing results and leave clinicians wondering where they have gone wrong. This volume adds a vital dimension to the SFT literature, providing a rich theoretical framework to facilitate nonformulaic clinical decision making. The focus is on how attention to emotional issues, traditionally not emphasized in brief, strengths-based interventions, can help "unstick" difficult situations and pave the way to successful solutions.