Multigenerational Family Therapy is a book about honoring and helping families. Rich with personal reflections and anecdotes from the author’s many years as a family therapist, this volume’s major strength lies in its precise definition of the process and content of the therapy itself. As the family is the major resource system available to an individual, this important book provides therapists with the keys for helping family members help each other and provides a framework for understanding how the family, as a multigenerational system, moves through various stages of the therapeutic process. By emphasizing the importance of family members utilizing the past as a positive force for change and featuring complete transcripts of family therapy sessions, this sensitive book clearly illustrates how therapists can use the positive forces of family for dealing with today’s uncertainties and dilemmas. The step-by-step approach details how family therapists can work with families in a positive, healing manner. Several chapters illustrate the transition from the beginning to middle phases of family therapy to the terminating phase and provide a framework for how therapy evolves over time. Other chapters discuss the special skills required to work with various family constellations, such as couples, parents with children, siblings, adult children with aged parents, and individuals as well as extended family members. Helpful advice on how to deal with special issues and dilemmas of family therapy such as secret-keeping, affairs, co-therapy, crises and emergencies is also included in this comprehensive book. Beginning and advanced family therapy practitioners, students of family theory and therapy, faculty of social work practice, clinical psychology, nursing, family life education, and counseling psychology will find many positive ideas for working with families in this detailed book.

Multi-generational Family Therapy reveals the limits of the medical model in treating mental and relational problems. It instead provides a toolkit for therapists, observing family functioning over at least three generations to explore the developmental history of the family in order to discover links between past trauma and broken emotional bonds, and current problems experienced by family members. Maurizio Andolfi honours the voices of children in therapy and enlists them as the key to unlocking unresolved family issues. The book provides an experiential model of intervention that centres on creativity and humanity as the best way to build an alliance and work with a family in crisis. Demonstrating with case examples, Andolfi outlines the relational skills and inner self of the therapist, focusing on the ability to be direct, authentic and emphatic. The use of relational questioning, silence, body language, physical contact and movement in therapy are explored in depth. Multi-generational Family Therapy will be of interest to anyone working with individuals, couples and families including child, adolescent and adult psychotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists and counsellors. It will also prove useful to private practitioners, social workers, doctors, paediatricians and educators

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Theory in Counseling and Psychotherapy is a two-volume source that traces theory and examines the beginnings of counseling and psychotherapy all the way to current trends and movements. This reference work draws together a team of international scholars that examine the global landscape of all the key counseling and psychotherapy theories and the theorists behind them while presenting them in context needed to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This is a quick, one-stop source that gives the reader the “who, what, where, how, and why” of contemporary counseling and psychotherapy theory. From historical context in which the theories were developed to the theoretical underpinnings which drive the theories, this reference encyclopedia has detailed and relevant information for all individuals interested in this subject matter. Features & Benefits: Approximately 335 signed entries fill two volumes available in a choice of print or electronic formats. Back matter includes a Chronology of theory within the field of counseling to help students put individual theories within a broader context. A Master Bibliography and a Resource Guide to key books, journals, and organizations guide students to further resources beyond the encyclopedia. The Reader’s Guide, a detailed Index and the Cross References combine for effective search-and-browse in the e-version and helps students take the next steps in their research journeys. This reference encyclopedia serves as an excellent source for any individual interested in the roots of contemporary counseling and psychotherapy theory. It is ideal for the public and professionals, as well as for students in counselor education programs especially those individuals who are pursuing a Masters level degree.

The concepts of Murray Bowen, one of the founders of family therapy and the originator of family systems theory, are brought together here in an integrative fashion. Michael Kerr (who worked with Bowen for many years) and Bowen propose that the enormously complex task of evaluating a clinical family can be orderly when it is grounded in family systems theory. Using family diagrams and case studies, the book is devoted to an elegant explication of Bowen theory, which analyzes multigenerational family relationships and conceptualizes the family as an emotional unit or as a network of interlocking relationships, not only among the family members, but also among biological, psychological, and sociological processes. Bowen’s persistent inquiry and devotion to family observation, in spite of obstacles and frustrations, have resulted in a theory that has radically changed our ways of looking at all behavior.

Move through emotional triangles toward a natural systems view of the individual in the context of the family and society Triangles: Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspectives presents clear applications of Murray Bowen’s concept of the emotional triangle in the family, the organization, and society. This comprehensive book discusses in detail the theory, the theory’s application to the therapist’s own family, clinical applications, organizational applications, and societal applications. This unique resource examines the value of the triangle concept for understanding the emotional process of the family, the organization, and society. Triangles: Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspectives provides a theoretical context for understanding the triangle concept and its application, then progresses to exploring and applying the concept of the triangle and interlocking triangles to self, family, and other contexts. This book is devoted to explicating Bowen’s seminal concept of the triangle, and providing a clear description of the process of detriangling in clinical practice. The text includes several case studies and vignettes to illustrate concepts. Topics in Triangles: Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspectives include: a historical and conceptual overview the triangle’s function in the effort to increase differentiation of self the presence of triangles in non-human primates Bowen’s differentiation of self effort in his own family and business the functioning of triangles at the time of chronic illness and death emotional triangles involving pets and humans the application of the concept of triangles and interlocking triangles to clinical issues in marriage the presence of triangles in the child-focused family triangles in stepfamilies the triangle’s presence and function in families with substance abusing teens triangles involving extramarital relationships triangles in organizations and businesses the triangle’s function in the context in societal emotional process and much more! Triangles: Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspectives is a stimulating, enlightening resource for family therapists, social workers, psychologists, pastoral counselors, and counselors.

This new Handbook of Family Therapy is the culmination of a decade of achievements within the field of family and couples therapy, emerging from and celebrating the dynamic evolution of marriage and family theory, practice, and research. The editors have unified the efforts of the profession's major players in bringing the most up-to-date and innovative information to the forefront of both educational and practice settings. They review the major theoretical approaches and break new ground by identifying and describing the current era of evidence-based models and contemporary areas of application. The Handbook of Family Therapy is a comprehensive, progressive, and skillful presentation of the science and practice of family and couples therapy, and a valuable resource for practitioners and students alike.

On the dynamics of family therapy

Considers the family-of-origin approach to the psychiatric counselling of adults in marital, family and individual therapy. The text discusses theoretical and clinical implications and provides three case studies to illustrate the application of this method.

"Your Mindful Compass" takes us behind the emotional curtain to see the mechanisms regulating individuals in social systems. There is great comfort and wisdom in knowing we can increase our awareness to manage the swift and ancient mechanisms of social control. We can gain greater flexibility by seeing how social controls work in systems from ants to humans. To be less controlled by others, we learn how emotional systems influence our relationship-oriented brain. People want to know what goes on in families that give rise to amazing leaders and/or terrorists. For the first time in history we can understand the systems in which we live. The social sciences have been accumulating knowledge since the early fifties as to how we are regulated by others. S. Milgram, S. Ashe, P. Zimbardo and J. Calhoun, detail the vulnerability to being duped and deceived and the difficulty of cooperating when values differ. Murray Bowen, M.D., the first researcher to observe several live-in families, for up to three years, at the National Institute of Mental Health. Describing how family members overly influence one another and distribute stress unevenly, Bowen described both how symptoms and family leaders emerge in highly stressed families. Our brain is not organized to automatically perceive that each family has an emotional system, fine-tuned by evolution and "valuing" its survival as a whole, as much as the survival of any individual. It is easier to see this emotional system function in ants or mice but not in humans. The emotional system is organized to snooker us humans: encouraging us to take sides, run away from others, to pressure others, to get sick, to blame others, and to have great difficulty in seeing our part in problems. It is hard to see that we become anxious, stressed out and even that we are difficult to deal with. But "thinking systems" can open the doors of perception, allowing us to experience the world in a different way. This book offers both coaching ideas and stories from leaders as to strategies to break out from social control by de-triangling, using paradoxes, reversals and other types of interruptions of highly linked emotional processes. Time is needed to think clearly about the automatic nature of the two against one triangle. Time and experience is required as we learn strategies to put two people together and get self outside the control of the system. In addition, it takes time to clarify and define one's principles, to know what "I" will or will not do and to be able to take a stand with others with whom we are very involved. The good news is that systems' thinking is possible for anyone. It is always possible for an individual to understand feelings and to integrate them with their more rational brains. In so doing, an individual increases his or her ability to communicate despite misunderstandings or even rejection from important others. The effort involved in creating your Mindful Compass enables us to perceive the relationship system without experiencing it's threats. The four points on the Mindful Compass are: 1) Action for Self, 2) Resistance to Forward Progress, 3) Knowledge of Social Systems and the 4) The Ability to Stand Alone. Each gives us a view of the process one enters when making an effort to define a self and build an emotional backbone. It is not easy to find our way through the social jungle. The ability to know emotional systems well enough to take a position for self and to become more differentiated is part of the natural way humans cope with pressure. Now people can use available knowledge to build an emotional backbone, by thoughtfully altering their part in the relationship system. No one knows how far one can go by making an effort to be more of a self-defined individual in relationships to others. Through increasing emotional maturity, we can find greater individual freedom at the same time that we increase our ability to cooperate and to be close to others.

The classic and critically acclaimed book Family Therapy with Ethnic Minorities, Second Edition has now been updated and revised to reflect the various demographic changes that have occurred in the lives of ethnic minority families and the implications of these changes for clinical practice. Family Therapy with Ethnic Minorities provides advanced students and practitioners with the most up-to-date examination yet of the theory, models, and techniques relevant to ethnic minority family functioning and therapy. After an introductory discussion of principles to be considered in practice with ethnic minorities, the authors apply these principles to working with specific ethnic minority groups, namely African Americans, Latinos, Asian/Pacific Americans, and First Nations People. Distinctive cultural values of each ethnic group are explored as well as specific guidelines and suggestions on culturally significant family therapy strategies and skills. Key Features: The revised text reflects advances in family therapy scholarship since the first edition thus ensuring for readers an up-to-date treatment of the topic Accents and extends current critical constructionist theories and techniques and applies them within a culturally specific perspective Pays special attention to the issues of 'historical trauma' (referred to as 'soul wound'), especially in work with First Nations Peoples and African American families /span