A Family Therapy Approach to Alcoholism*

Data accumulated from recent studies strongly suggest that family therapy is a promising method of treatment for alcoholism. In this paper a comprehensive treatment approach is proposed, based on known characteristics of alcoholic family systems and the author's clinical experiences in working with families of alcoholics. Specific strategies are described that can enhance treatment success by reducing resistances and maximizing changes in dysfunctional family interaction patterns. The relationship between the spouses is such as to perpetuate the need for alcohol. The major focus in therapy therefore is on understanding and changing the marital relationship.     

Child-Focused Family Therapy: Behavioural Family Therapy Versus Brief Family Therapy

We examined the effectiveness of behavioural family therapy (following the treatment agenda outlined in Fleischman, Horne and Arthur, 1983) and brief family therapy (following the procedures outlined in Fisch, Weakland and Segal, 1985), in the treatment of child psychological disorders. The parents of the 49 children referred to the outpatient unit of a children's hospital completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach and Edelbrock, 1983). Three scales of the CBCL were examined to assess the effectiveness of the two therapeutic approaches pre- to post-treatment. Significant pre- and post-treatment differences were found for behavioural family therapy on the Internalizing, Externalizing, and Sum T scales and for brief family therapy on the Internalizing and Sum T scales. Sum T scales represent the sum of scores across all sub-scales of the CBCL. Neither treatment was found to be more effective than the other.     

Statutory Family Therapy A Family Therapy Team Approach in Child Protection Practice

This article outlines a team approach that has been created by the author to work therapeutically with families under statutory investigation for intrafamilial child abuse. It was devised for use by protective workers responsible for intervention with adolescents at risk and their families. This approach has been used successfully to combine the dual roles of child protection and family support in the context of statutory intervention.     

Fathers in Family Therapy: A Survey of Family Therapists

Sixty family therapists were surveyed in an investigation of resistance by family members to family therapy. Consistent with other investigations, the father was viewed as the most resistant along a number of dimensions. Therapist behaviors that related to difficulties with the father, specifically, and to family therapy generally, were identified. The implication of these results and possible strategies to reduce the resistance of the father are discussed.     

Family Therapy Process in a Family Therapy Seminar

The interaction between leaders and members in a year-long family therapy seminar is systematically compared to the process that unfolds between therapist and family during the course of family therapy. A five stage developmental process common to both is postulated and described: (1) Battle for Structure, (2) Naive Enthusiasm, (3) Conflictual Frustration, (4) Task Orientation, and (5) Mutuality. The dynamic elements of each stage are analyzed and factors affecting their development are identified. It is concluded that this five stage process occurs in all similar groups, but that the content of each stage may vary widely from group to group.     

Family Therapy: A Client-Centered Perspective

>This article first critiques therapist-directed approaches to family therapy in the light of research findings on therapist variables (empathy, warmth, genuineness) associated with positive outcomes in psychotherapy. Second, two polar opposite positions in family therapy — psychodynamic and family systems — are examined and found to have much in common. The two approaches are based on a pessimistic view of the family, which is seen as an intractable unit, resistant to its own growth. Third, an alternative, phenomenological view of the family is developed, which more optimistically assumes the family to be motivated for enhancement and growth. Finally, a client-centered approach to family therapy is described.     

A Comparison of Seven Family Therapy Approaches

Dimensions which should be part of a family theory are developed by drawing from ‘Integrative Family Therapy’, a theory incorporating the concepts, hypotheses, and techniques of American family therapists. The family theories of seven family therapists (Minuchin, Haley, Zuk, Friedman, Speck, Boszormenyi-Nagy, Rubinstein) are described and compared with one another. Their limitations are shown and thereby the characteristics of approaches of family therapy are indicated. Their contribution to a more encompassing ‘Integrative Family Theory’ is shown.     

Family Context Therapy: A Model for Family Change*

Starting where family group therapy fails, this article breaks new territory in family context therapy. Consolidating the past 14 years of his work, Dr. Bell sets forth a conceptual program and methods to meet problems that earlier forms of family therapy could not reach. Here he provides a model drawn from studies, theories, and personal experience of organizational patterns, interrelations, and change among community institutions that provide settings for family functioning. His new methods are designed to modify the family environment so as to solve family problems and promote beneficial family growth—a framework that may bring together a broad variety of existing family development approaches.     

Family Therapy for the Trainee in Family Therapy*

The growth and self understanding of the therapist as a person are considered by most training centres to be a significant part of the training process. This article reports on a pilot project which provided marital and family therapy for trainees in a two-year program. Therapy was established on a contract basis and included individual, conjoint, family intergenerational and small group. Interns and family members responded favorably to the program. Supervisors found the experience enabled trainees to maintain an experiential consistency with a general systems model utilized as the core theory of the training program.     

Brief Family Therapy: A Metaphorical Task

This article presents a therapeutic procedure designed to prescribe, in metaphorical form, the family's troublesome behavior pattern. Particular attention is paid to using a compliment to precede delivering a task assignment as a method of increasing the likelihood that the family will perform the task, and thus change will be promoted. A case example is used to illustrate the use of this procedure to help make change less painful.     

A Miracle Metaphor for Family Therapy*

This paper is a chronicle of miracle narratives in family therapy. It suggests that change is a manifold and often comes unexpectedly from life, which places it outside the control of the theory and technology of family therapy. A miracle is defined not in supernatural language, so much as a co-incidence of events that fall together' to form a narrative for change. As poetic metaphor, miracles evoke in the family therapist an aesthetics of wonder and a ‘holy curiosity’. The miracle metaphor is illustrated by several examples from family therapy practice, and is discussed in relation to recent deconstructive theory.     

Teaching Family Therapy

Family therapy is a distinctive treatment modality, differing in techniques, objectives, and problem definitions from other modalities. Integrating it into a social work curriculum poses several difficulties because of this fact. In this paper several themes in the training literature are isolated and problems associated with assisting learners to shift their practice orientation from individuals to families are discussed     

Family Social Work/Family Therapy

The author responds to Witkin's (1993) comparison of family social work and family therapy. The author argues that family social work and family therapy share important commonalities. He challenges Witkin's characterization of family therapy as outdated. Instead, family therapy is characterized as having contributed important writings about gender and culture to its practitioners. The paper ends with reflections on the implications of social justice for clinicians.     

A Diaclectic Approach to Family Therapy and Practice: Selectivity and Synthesis

In this article, a case is made for transcending any one model or theory, or any reliance on particular techniques as a panacea. Instead, new integrations of intuitive understanding, which represent the artistry of healing, and of scientific knowledge of various theories, in a spontaneous and therefore unique responsiveness to the specific family requesting help are sought. In this way, the most growth oriented and change producing therapeutic environment is created.     

A personal View of our History to 1988: Family Therapy in Australia

Written in 1998, this paper is my perspective on the history of Family Therapy in Australia. It is written from my position as one who has been privileged to be a part of that history and to have my own professional and personal development intertwined with it. The perspective I offer here is entirely my own.