Wiley Series in Couples and Family Dynamics and Treatment – serie

Couples and family therapists have long known that intrapersonal difficulties are played out in, and exacerbated by, problems in interpersonal relationships. In this ground-breaking new book, leading couples and family clinicians and researchers present a clinically-based typology of relational disorders. Already hailed as one of the most important books of the decade, this timely volume examines the role of diagnosis in couples and family therapy, and offers clinical criteria for diagnosing a broad spectrum of relational disorders and dysfunctional relational patterns.

Acclaim for Painful Partings . . . "A rare triple threat book--for professionals, students, andlaypersons. Sensitive--wise--comprehensive, Schwartz and Kaslow'swork represents a maturing of a realistic stance toward divorce."--William C. Nichols, EdD, ABPP Atlanta, Georgia "This articulate, compassionate, and informed book is essentialreading for all therapists who work with divorced or divorcingfamilies. Scholarly, yet readable, its developmental frameworkgives coherence to an often confusing area of practice." --AugustusY. Napier, PhD Director, The Family Workshop, Atlanta,Georgia "[Painful Partings] masters both the legal and mental health issuesof divorce." --Judge Joseph L. Steinberg Superior Court, State ofConnecticut, Regional Family Trial Docket "Obtaining a legal divorce may seem fairly straightforward.Emotional divorce, on the other hand, is a much more complicatedprocess. In this book, the reader is taken step by painful stepinto the process of helping couples become emotionally divorced."--Luciano L'Abate, PhDProfessor Emeritus, Georgia StateUniversity "This book achieves a remarkable result in explaining sophisticatedfamily-system concepts . . . into practical clinical suggestions."--Barry Bricklin, PhD Wayne, Pennsylvania. "This book is a must for professionals, but is also important forthose who are contemplating or in the process of divorcing." --Hon.Walter M. Schackman, JSC Supreme Court of the State of NewYork "Must reading for clinicians and professionals working with andteaching about divorce and for those going through the process."--Clifford J. Sager, MD Director of Marital and Family Services,Payne Whitney Clinic "The journey [toward divorce] seems analogous to a prolonged rollercoaster ride--at the beginning, climbing up and out is laboriousand slow, followed by brief periods of respite and relief at theapex, and then a rapid descent into what may seem like a bottomlesspit of pain and despair. As the months pass by, the ride becomesless turbulent as the highs and lows become less extreme, andultimately, the travelers alight from the tempestuous ride, andestablish a stable postdivorce existence." --from the Preface For those who have made the difficult decision to end theirmarriage, emotional divorce can be as difficult to achieve as legaldivorce. This timely and compassionate book shows couples, theirfamilies, and their therapists how best to navigate the bumpyterrain of the road to divorce. In their 1987 classic, The Dynamics of Divorce, family-systemsexperts Lita Linzer Schwartz and Florence W. Kaslow offered aprovocative analysis of how life-cycle stages impact the decisionto divorce, and how divorce affects individual development. In thisgroundbreaking new volume, the authors look at changing life-cycletrends in divorce and explore a host of new economic, cultural, andsocial issues confronting a highly mobile generation of divorcedspouses and parents. The book covers emerging alternatives to litigation--likemediation, and looks at sensitive legal matters, such as physicaland emotional abuse and child custody. It also examines timelyissues like fathers' rights, mid-life divorce, and what happenswhen one partner exits a marriage in order to lead a homosexuallifestyle. Painful Partings shows marriage and family therapists how to helpclients marshal their energies toward constructive closure, ratherthan destructive resolution. For example, there is a full chapteron the religious aspects of divorce, including conducting a Ritualof Release--a departure ceremony paralleling the original marriage.Essential reading for therapists who work with divorced anddivorcing families, the book is also a compassionate guide forspouses and parents negotiating the painful process of divorce.

In his acclaimed book A Theory of Personality Development, Luciano L'Abate introduced a revolutionary theory of personality development and functioning that departed radically from traditional theories. In place of hypothetical traits existing in an empirical vacuum, Dr. L'Abate offered an image of observable interpersonal competencies functioning within the basic contexts of home, work, leisure, and the marketplace. Central to his theory was a developmental model that posited the family as the primordial setting in which propensities are formed and behavior patterns set. By defining personality in terms of the growth and interplay of interpersonal competencies, the L'Abate theory provided an epistemologically and empirically sound basis for understanding personality function and dysfunction as corollaries and extensions of one another. In The Self in the Family, Luciano L'Abate and Margaret Baggett again break new ground by expanding the L'Abate theory of personality development to encompass criminal and psychopathological behavior. Drawing upon mounting empirical evidence that the family paradigm is the major determinant of personality socialization throughout the life span, the authors develop a selfhood model with demonstrable links between the three domains of personality function, criminality, and psychopathology. With the help of the model, they show how it is now possible to arrive at a personality-based interpretation of most deviant behaviors, including criminality, psychopathology, addictions, and even psychosomatic illnesses, and they describe various preventive and psychotherapeutic applications for this expanded theory of family-based personality development.The authors further elaborate on the theories developed in Dr. L'Abate's previous books by introducing the core concepts of hurt—the basic feeling underlying much of personality functioning and dysfunctioning—and a continuum of likeness—the fundamental determinant of interpersonal choices and behavior in friendships, parent-child relations, and marital relations.Offering an empirically rigorous, developmentally based, unified field theory of personality function, criminality, and psychopathology, The Self in the Family is essential reading for developmental and clinical psychologists, family therapists, personality theorists, and criminality and psychopathology researchers.CHILD-CENTERED FAMILY THERAPYLucille L. AndreozziThis book is the first complete introduction to the Child-Centered Structural Dynamic Therapy Model—a revolutionary, short-term treatment model which helps integrate child and family system development into a comprehensive framework for self-guided, family-initiated change. This guide, with its numerous case illustrations, works to build knowledge from within the family by engaging family members in structured activities that help them translate family system principles into practical, everyday reality. Child-Centered Family Therapy is an important resource for couples and family therapists, child psychologists, counselors, and social workers.1996 (0-471-14858-X) 374 pp.TREATING THE CHANGING FAMILYHandling Normative and Unusual EventsEdited by Michele HarwayThis inimitable book offers a broad-ranging, carefully integrated review of contemporary trends in family therapy, research, and practice. It reexamines the family and the many challenges to its function and provides practical advice for therapists who treat troubled families. It explores the impact that non-normative events such as violence and abuse, addiction, long-term and chronic illness, divorce, adoption, trauma, and many others can have on family function and provides proven intervention strategies and techniques for treating these families. With the special attention given to the structure, dynamics, and unique problems of families that do not fit the traditional mold, such as binuclear, single-parent, and gay and lesbian families, Treating the Changing Family is a valuable resource for all mental health professionals and families.1995 (0-471-07905-7) 374 pp.Also in the Series:HANDBOOK OF RELATIONAL DIAGNOSIS AND DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY PATTERNSFlorence W. Kaslow, Editor1996 (0-471-08078-0) 592 pp.

"The important thing is not to stop questioning."-Albert Einstein The Art of the Question extends the range of cognitive-behavioraltherapy by elaborating on the ways that internal questions programthought, emotion, and behavior. Describing a groundbreaking,question-centered approach to therapy, the concepts and practicesin this book are essential for facilitating successful counselingand therapy. The Art of the Question contains everything therapistsneed to add question-centered methods to their therapeutictoolkits. The question-driven nature of choice is one of the pillars ofquestion-centered therapy. The Art of the Question offers practicalpsycho-educational tools to help clients create better choices, bemore effective in the ways they make choices, and takeresponsibility for their decisions. Clients learn to ask questionsleading to solutions and positive possibilities, rather than thosefocusing on problems, negativity, and limitations. They discoverthat healing, growth, creativity, and change are often catalyzedthrough the simple act of changing their questions. The Art of the Question includes:* Question strategies for win-win marriages* Many compelling clinical cases and vignettes* Detailed methods for helping clients discover and transform thesilent, implicit questions that program their lives* A framework for asking questions of clients at each stage of thetherapeutic process* Illustrated psycho-educational materials for clients The Art of the Question contains everything therapists need toincorporate question-centered methods into their therapeutic toolkits, making it an essential resource and reference guide for allmental health professionals.

Praise for Serious Mental Illness and the Family "Serious Mental Illness and the Family is unique in building assessment, intervention, and collaborative strategies around specific types of clinical cases and life scenarios. The book will be an invaluable aid to mental health professionals working with severely ill clients and their families." --Harriet P. Lefley, PhD Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences University of Miami School of Medicine "Dr. Marsh is very knowledgeable about families, yet is also very compassionate in her approach to the experience of families who are frequently traumatized by a mental illness in a family member. Professionals who work with families of people with mental illness will find [this] book extremely helpful in their work..a rich source of information." --LeRoy Spaniol, PhD Executive Publisher, The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal "Dr. Diane Marsh has given the mental health field yet another brilliant resource..any psychiatric service provider can pick up this book and immediately find useful strategies for commonly occurring communication difficulties in both the initial interview and ongoing therapeutic interactions." --Mary D. Moller, MSN, ARNP, CS CEO, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Nurses, Inc. "[A] timely and important work.enriched with dozens of case vignettes, useful strategies, and profound insight. The writing is crystal clear, approachable, and engaging with satisfying depth and detail. Dr. Marsh is able to translate contemporary family theory content and new ideas into meaningful principles of practice for helping the spouses and partners, children, siblings, and other family members of people with severe mental illness." --Kia J. Bentley, PhD, LCSW Associate Professor, School of Social Work Virginia Commonwealth University