Some Central Ideas in the “Just Therapy” Approach

This paper comprises significant extracts from a plenary address on Family Therapy and Social Justice given at the Second Australia and New Zealand Family Therapy Conference, Melbourne, July 1992. It contains the language of the three cultures at the Family Centre, Maori, Samoan and English. The two writers give their perspectives, those of Samoan womanhood and Pakeha (white) manhood, as they address the development of “Just Therapy”. The paper is an unusually subjective account of historical vignettes that proved to be crucial to the original developments of therapy at the Family Centre. Through speech making, poetry, prose and song, the paper outlines the critical cultural, gender and socio-economic contexts central to the “Just Therapy” approach. “Belonging”, “sacredness” and “liberation” have become the essential themes in this unique approach to an anti-colonial, anti-sexist and anti-class therapy. To put it more positively, this paper outlines a history of struggle with issues of equity that have consistently attempted to create a therapy inclusive of women's experience, dominated cultures and low-income families marginalised in the market.     

Independent comment on Audio‐visual and Print Materials

Book reviewed in this article: Narrative Therapy: An Introduction for Counsellors Martin Payne Family Therapy: The Field's Past, Present and Possible Futures Volume 1 Case Studies in Couple and Family Therapy: Systemic and Cognitive Perspectives Dattilio, F. M. (Ed.) Child‐Focused Practice: A Collaborative Systemic Approach Jim Wilson BabyTalk: The Pioneering Book that will Change Childcare Forever Sally Ward 201 Questions to Ask Your Kids Pepper Schwartz Teen Pregnancy and Parenting — Social and Ethical Issues James Wong and David Checkland (Eds) The Fundamentals of Family Mediation J. M. Haynes and S. Charlesworth Family Group Conferences in Child Welfare Peter Marsh and Gill Crow Single Session Family Staging: Breaking Family Spells E. Zawidowski     

Abstracts

Fritz, G. S., Stoll, K. and Wagner, N. N. A comparison of males and females who were sexually molested as children. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy , 1981, 7 , 54–59.
Baisden, Major J., Jr. and Baisden, Joanna. A profile of women who seek counseling for sexual dysfunction. American Journal of Family Therapy , 1979, 7, 1 , 68–76.
Murphy, G. J., Hudson, W. W. and Cheung, P. Marital and sexual discord among older couples. Social Work Research Abstracts , 1980, 16, 11 , 11–16.
Chesney, A. P., Blakeney, P. E., Chan, F. A., and Cole, C. M. The impact of sex therapy on sexual behaviors and marital communication. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy , 1981, 7 , 1, 70–79.
Price, S., Heinrich, A. G., and Golden, J. S. Structured group treatment of couples experiencing sexual dysfunctions. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy , 1981, 6 , 4, 247–257.
Zilbergeld, B. and Rinkleib-Ellison, C. Social skills training as an adjunct sex therapy. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy , 1979, 5, 4 , 340–350.     

Sources of Influence in the Family Therapy Field: Publication Trends in Three Major Journals1

The institutional sources of all articles published in the three major marriage and family therapy journals through 1978 are identified. The journals reviewed include: Family Process, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, and the American Journal of Family Therapy. While no single center emerges as dominating the published family therapy literature, a small number of institutions clearly have exerted a profound impact on the literature of the field. Moreover, the absolute number of centers influencing the field is rapidly increasing, and these centers are becoming particularly influential in the newer journals in the field.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: “ THE FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA : Social, Demographic and Psychological Aspects”, Jerzy Krupinski and Alan Stoller (Eds.); “ PSYCHOSOMATIC FAMILIES — ANOREXIA NERVOSA IN CONTEXT ” by Salvador Minuchin, Bernice L. Rosman, Lester Baker. “ PARADOX AND COUNTERPARADOX : A New Model in the Therapy of the Family in Schizophrenic Transaction” by Mara Selvini Palazzoli, Gianfranco Cecchin, Giuiana Prata, Luigi Boscolo and Jason Aronson “ THE FAMILY CRUCIBLE ” The Intense Experience of Family Therapy by Augustus Napier and Carl Whitaker.     

Naivety and Family Therapy An Interview with John Carpenter

Family therapists have been naive about families, the pressures on them and the contexts of therapy. Therapists should be clear about their roles, sensitive to families' experience of therapy, and resist the temptation to mystify therapy. John Carpenter is Senior Lecturer in Mental Health, University of Kent, Canterbury, England and Co-Editor of Journal of Family Therapy. He was a guest keynote speaker at the 1991 Australian Family Therapy Conference in Brisbane, and this interview took place shortly afterwards in Melbourne.     

‘Therapy Doesn't Exist in a Vacuum’: An Interview With Max Cornwell

Max Cornwell is a psychologist and social worker in Sydney. He edited ANZJFT from 1985 until 1996 and is a former editor of Australian Social Work. He has taught in hundreds of venues in Australia and abroad. In 1980 he co‐founded the Family Therapy Institute, a major influence on the training of family therapists in New South Wales until the mid‐90s. He is an Honorary Life Member of VAFT and has received the Journal Award for services to family therapy.     

An Interview with Maurizio Andolfi

This interview was completed in Rome, Italy, on June 12, 1986. Maurizio Andolfi has evolved into one of the most creative family therapists regarding the use of self and metaphorical objects in the therapy process. For readers familiar with his interview in the American Journal of Family Therapy, 1981, (9)2, and his book, Family Therapy: Interactional Family Therapy, (1979), New York: Plenum, and Behind the Family Mask, (1983), New York: Brunner/Mazel, this interview reflects some of these changes and should provide interesting reading.     

BEYOND THE CLINIC: IN-HOME THERAPY WITH HEAD START FAMILIES

Social workers and case managers have provided in-home services to families for some time. The field of Marriage and Family Therapy, however, has begun to do in-home work only recently. This paper describes the experiences of MFT interns who worked with families in their homes. Two university graduate MFT training programs conceptualized and practiced in-home therapy with families who had at least one child enrolled in the local Head Start program. This collaborative effort was part of the AAMFT-Head Start Training Partnership Project that had the goal of funding projects that demonstrated successful partnerships between MFT and Head Start. Six interns worked with 27 Head Start families in their homes. A model of the interns' transition from clinic-based to home-based therapy is discussed and applied to working with Head Start families. The framework of in-home therapy is expanded to conceptualizing larger systems and community-based interventions, and recommendations for family therapists in private practice and agency settings are made.     

Independent Comment on Audio‐visual and Print Materials

Book reviewed in this article: Feminist Family Therapy: Empowerment in Social Context. Louise B. Silverstein & Thelma Jean Goodrich (Eds) How it Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent: A Book by Kids for Kids of all Ages. Judith Snow The Internal and External Worlds of Children and Adolescents: Collaborative Therapeutic Care. Lesley Day & Denis Flynn (Ed.) Children's Solutions Work. Insoo Kim Berg and Therese Steiner Spiritual Resources in Family Therapy. Froma Walsh (Ed.) In the Firing Line: Violence and Power in Child Protection Work. Janet Stanley and Chris Goddard Sperm Wars: The Rights and Wrongs of Reproduction Heather Grace Jones and Maggie Kirkman (Eds) The Work/Life Collision. Barbara Pocock, Annandale, NSW, The Federation Press     

The effects of family therapies for adolescent delinquency and substance abuse: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis summarizes results from k = 24 studies comparing either Brief Strategic Family Therapy, Functional Family Therapy, Multidimensional Family Therapy, or Multisystemic Therapy to either treatment-as-usual, an alternative therapy, or a control group in the treatment of adolescent substance abuse and delinquency. Additionally, the authors reviewed and applied three advanced meta-analysis methods including influence analysis, multivariate meta-analysis, and publication bias analyses. The results suggested that as a group the four family therapies had statistically significant, but modest effects as compared to treatment-as-usual (d = 0.21; k = 11) and as compared to alternative therapies (d = 0.26; k = 11). The effect of family therapy compared to control was larger (d = 0.70; k = 4) but was not statistically significant probably because of low power. There was insufficient evidence to determine whether the various models differed in their effectiveness relative to each other. Influence analyses suggested that three studies had a large effect on aggregate effect sizes and heterogeneity statistics. Moderator and multivariate analyses were largely underpowered but will be useful as this literature grows.     

Australian Family Therapy: Have We Lived Up To Our Mission Statement?

In 1983 the Fourth Australian Family Therapy Conference had the theme ‘Merging the Streams — Integrating Trends in Family Therapy’. In his keynote address Brian Stagoll outlined concerns regarding the nature of family therapy as it was then developing in Australia. This article revisits some of these themes to see where we have come from, where we are heading and which topics continue to be ignored. Evidence is drawn from articles that stood out for me in the Australian Journal of Family Therapy (later the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy) and selected relevant papers from the 1983 conference itself. Finally, I speculate upon possible reasons for the absence of discussion on certain issues, most strikingly: systemic influences upon indigenous Australians, farm families, working with children in families, certain aspects of gender, the systemic implications of addiction; and environmental impacts on families now and for the future. The danger for family therapy is becoming stuck in a closed system that ignores the wider system.     

Shifting sex roles: The silence of the family therapy literature

This article suggests that it is important for family therapists to be attuned to the struggles families are experiencing in relation to their changing sex role mores. Traditional ideas about what is feminine and masculine still exist while new realities with new values are emerging. Although one would expect the family therapy literature to be discussing and clarifying the implications of sex role shifts for individuals within the family and for the family as a whole, it has been surprisingly silent. This article reviews the concept of sex roles and discusses it from the perspective of the dichotomization of gender. Object relations theory is suggested as a framework by which sex role differentiation and particularly its more polarized aspect can be understood.This article was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the certificate in Family Therapy, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA, 1979.     

ABSTRACTS

Andolfi, M. Redefinition in family therapy. American Journal of Family Therapy ,
Clance, P. R. & Imes, S. A. The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice ,
Feinstein, A. D. Personal mythology as a paradigm for a holistic public psychology. American Journal of Orthapsychiatry ,
Hatfield, A. B. The family as partner in the treatment of mental illness. Hospital and Community Psychiatry ,
McGuire, J. M. & Borowy, T. D. Attitudes toward mental health professionals. Professional Psychology ,
Olson, D. H., Sprenkle, D. H. & Russell, C. S. Circumplex model of marital and family systems: I. Cohesion and adaptability dimensions, family types, and clinical applications. Family Process ,
Perr, M. Social and cultural influences on the doctor's family. American Journal of Psychoanalysis ,
Russell, C. S. Circumplex model of marital and family systems: III. Empirical evaluation with families. Family Process ,     

Family Therapy in a Psychiatric Hospital: A Case-Controlled Evaluation

Thirty-five patients (20 women) treated by a Family Therapy Unit based in a psychiatric hospital were compared with 35 matched control inpatients who were not treated by the Unit. Family Therapy averaged 4.5 one hour sessions and was cybernetic rather than behavioural or psychoeducational. The main outcome measure was days spent in the hospital in the year after family therapy. Women, but not men, showed a significant improvement after family therapy, reducing their days in hospital from a mean of 50 in the year before family therapy to 18 in the year after. The best response was shown by women with affective disorder. Control men and women showed a slight increase in days spent in hospital. Improvement after family therapy was associated with a markedly positive change in key relatives' attitudes to the patient, and a strongly positive attitude towards family therapy.     

Journal abstracts

Abstract

Clinical social work journal, spring 1983, vol.22, no.1

Seari, Carolyn “On the place of reality in social work and psychoanalytic theory” (Abstracted by Frances Chase)

Clinical Social Work Journal Spring 1983, Vol.11, No.1

Weber, Susan B. “On women in therapy and women as therapists” (Abstracted by Frances Chase)

Clinical Social Work Journal, Spring 1983, Vol.11, No.1

Poncelet, Noelle M. “A family systems view of emotional disturbance during pregnancy” (Abstracted by Frances Chase)

Clinical Social Work Journal, Summer 1983, Vol.11, No.2

Smaldino, Angelo From action to reflection: new depths in psychotherapy with drug addicts (Abstracted by Frances Chase)

Changes, 1984, Vol.2, No.3, pp.76–79

Langley, Dorothy Metaphor in the search for self (Abstracted by Jill Hopkins)

Family Process, 1983, Vol.22, No.4

Cooklin, A., Miller, A.C., McHugh, B. “An institution for change: developing of a Family Day Unit.” (Abstracted by Robin Piper)

Family Process, 1983, Vol.22, No.4

Sluzki, C.E. “Process, structure and world views - toward an integrated view of systemic models in family therapy”. (Abstracted by Robin Piper)

International Child Welfare Review, December 1983, No.59

Fuente, Amando Vega “The maladjusted child is powerless in the face of drugs” A survey carried out in a juvenile remand centre and reformatory in Spain, amongst 50 children (Abstracted by Veronica Piercy)

International Child Welfare Review, June 1984, No.61

Traber, J. “A special being, doing a special job in a special place - a fresh look at the institutional talcing into care of children and adolescents” (Abstracted by Veronica Piercy)

Journal of Family Therapy, 1984, Vol.6, No.2

Lau, Annie “Transcultural issues in family therapy” (Abstracted by Leonard Davis)

Journal of Family Therapy, 1984, Vol.6, No.2

O'Hagan, Kieran “Family crisis intervention in social services” (Abstracted by Leonard Davis)

Journal of Family Therapy, 1984, Vol.6, No.1

Campion, Jean Psychological services for children: using family therapy in the setting of the school psychological service (Abstracted by Leonard Davis)

Social Casework, November 1983, 64, pp.561–5

Rosenfeld, J. M. and Krim, A. “Adversity as opportunity: urban families who did well after a fire” (Abstracted by Jona Rosenfeld)

International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, 1983 Vol.4, No.3

Munich, R.L. “Suicide on an inpatient unit: a sociotherapeutic view” (Abstracted by Leonard Davis)

International Journal of Therapeutic Communities 1983, Vol.4, No.4

De Leon, G. “The next therapeutic community: autocracy, and other notes toward integrating old and new therapeutic communities” (Abstracted by Leonard Davis)

International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, 1984, No.l, Vol.4, pp.25–37

Bell, M. D. and Ryan, E. R. “The therapeutic community meeting: theory and technique” (Abstracted by Leonard Davis)

International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, 1984, Vol.4, No.l, pp.6–24

Lees, J. D. and Manning, N. “Problems in the psychology of personality and environment, and some Marxist solutions” (Abstracted by Leonard Davis)     

Therapist-worldview matching: not as important as matching to clients

In this essay, we respond to Simon's article (2012). We discuss our view that therapy works best when therapists can match therapeutic interventions to the worldview of clients. We see this matching to client worldview as rooted in research evidence, and we suggest that therapists can practice authentically and effectively using more than one divergent therapy approach. We conclude the paper by pointing out points of disagreement we have with Simon's use of Davis and Piercy's (Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 2007a; 33, 298; Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 2007b, 32, 515) study, a study Simon uses to ground his arguments.     

Family Therapy … What's in a Name?*

The 2nd Australian and New Zealand Family Therapy Conference, held in Melbourne in July 1992, invited those making presentations to address the Conference theme Family Therapy … what's in a name? In a closing address to a plenary session of the Conference, I used the metaphor of first names (family) and surnames (therapy) to suggest that names are central to issues of identity. Our first name of “family” differentiates us within the larger group who share the surname “therapy”; but what does it mean to belong to the larger group sharing the name “therapy”? Historically, much of family therapy's energy has gone into issues concerned with establishing difference — difference within family therapy in terms of models and approaches, and difference from other approaches to therapy. Yet now perhaps family therapy would benefit from exploring what it shares in common with others who hold the same surname of “therapy”, with the possibility such dialogue could lead to mutual enrichment.     

THE THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE IN HOME‐BASED FAMILY THERAPY: IS IT PREDICTIVE OF OUTCOME?

This study examined the association between the therapeutic alliance in family therapy and changes in symptom distress, interpersonal relationships, and family coping. The participants (N = 81) were members of low socioeconomic status families referred to a university clinic for in-home family therapy. Participants completed the Outcome Questionnaire, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation, and the Family Therapy Alliance questionnaires. Regression analyses revealed that the therapeutic alliance explained 19% of the variance in symptom distress changes for mother, 55% for fathers, and 39% for adolescents. The implications of these findings for practicing and researching family therapy are presented.