Family therapy saves the planet: messianic tendencies in the family systems literature

It is not unusual occasionally to hear individual family therapists describe their work as an effort to "save the world." The messianic notion that family therapy should be the world's salvation is not simply a fancy of individual clinicians, but is deeply imbedded in several of our field's most fundamental theories. This article explores messianic arguments in the work of some of family therapy's most important thinkers, including von Bertalanffy, Bateson, and Keeney, and then discusses the implications that these arguments have for the clinical and theoretical development of our field.     

Aging issues: unanswered questions in marital and family therapy literature

Researchers have reviewed couple and family therapy journals to determine the extent to which issues concerning older populations are addressed. In an effort to extend previous work, we conducted content analyses of 957 articles published in three of the leading marital and family therapy journals between 1997 and 2006. From the articles, 27 (2.8%) mentioned aging or included older adults in their sample. Results indicate that the number of articles emphasizing older adults has not substantially increased. While this result has been substantiated by other researchers in previous years, a new finding in this study concerns the quality of articles on aging issues. The articles reviewed in this study indicated a greater focus on aging issues and addressing issues during this life cycle stage.     

The theory,structure, and techniques for the inclusion of children in family therapy: a literature review

Many barriers prevent therapists from including young children in family therapy, despite the theoretical belief that every family member should be present. Although there is a wealth of literature describing how to include children, the information has not been compiled in a way that is easily accessible to therapists. In this article, we report the findings of an exhaustive and systematic literature review of 64 publications, published between 1972 and 1999, related to including children in family therapy. The purpose of this article is to offer therapists a succinct compilation of theoretical, structural, and practical aspects as well as a comprehensive listing of specific techniques for including children in family therapy.     

Beyond words: The psychodynamics of a therapy in silence with a twelve-year-old girl

This paper unravels the treatment benefits of continued work with a 12 1/2 year old girl who remained silent during the therapy. The multiplicity of meanings that silence represented for the patient are innumerated. In addition, the utilization of therapeutic tools such as movement therapy and countertransference are discussed in relation to the psychodynamics of the patient's silence. The paper shows how the therapist and the patient were able to reach a core self-space from which to develop and grow.     

Shifting values in agriculture: the farm family and pollution regulation1

It has long been acknowledged that the notion of family continuity of farm occupation through succession is one of the central tenets of the ethos of ‘family’ farming, but recent evidence suggests that it is being called into question by family members. Farming practices are being pursued in a rapidly changing world, an important feature of which is a greater level of public and political concern for protecting the rural environment. This paper examines a range of new influences affecting farming practice and environmental consciousness and the implications these have for farming values, particularly that of family succession. Using evidence from a study of dairy farm families and pollution regulation in Devon in South West England, it suggests that rural social change is providing new routes through which environmental values can flow through farm households, influencing the ways farmers understand the environmental implications of their practices, and the ways they and their families think about their long-term futures.     

The prevalence of later life family concerns in the marriage and family therapy journal literature (1976-1985): a content analysis*

This study assessed the frequency with which the marital and family therapy journal literature focused on problems associated with aging in a family context. Content analysis was used to assess the prevalence of later life family concerns in two leading journals, Family Process and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, during a 10-year period (1976-1985). Results indicate that neither journal covered later life family issues to any appreciable degree. It is concluded that elders in marital and family relationships constitute a new frontier for the extension and elaboration of family therapy.     

The relationship of modernity of sex roles to pregnancy planning

This study investigates the relationship of women's role modernity to pregnancy planning. The subjects were 59 married primiparous women aged 18 to 33 who had given birth in a metropolitan midwestern hospital. Over 1/2 the sample had some college eduction. The pregnancy planning variable is operationalized as the implementation of family planning goals. Subjects who desired pregnancy and actively attempted to conceive are considered to be planners. In contrast, nonplanners are defined as women who preferred to avoid pregnancy but were not successful and women who did not actively seek or avoid pregancy. The modernity of sex roles variable is operationalized through use of the Scanzoni instrument. This instrument is constructed from a series of items that measure 3 social positions related to sex roles in the family context: those of wife, husband and mother. The instrument is modified in this investigation, leaving 21 5-point scale items to be included in the data analysis. Smallest space analysis of the inter-item correlation matrix demonstrate that the social positions of wife and husband do not clearly reflect different aspects of sex role modernity. A comparison of the average inter-item correlation for the variables within each social position with the average inter-item for the variables across the positions reveals that the dimensions proposed by Scanzoni are not empirically different. In light of these findings, further exploratory data analysis of all items was conducted to discern which items do empirically cluster together. Scanzoni's 21 sex role items were submitted to principal component factor analysis; 3 factors emerged. 1) wife-husband equlity; 2) flexibility in role integration; and 3) values regarding primary role. 3 new sex role modernity values were created to correspond to the 3 factors and were then used to explore the relationship between sex role modernity and pregnancy planning. Chi square analyses were not statistically significant. Therefore, the hypothesis that women at the extremes of the modernity continuum would be more likely to plan than women who fall in the middle, was rejected. Although no relationship between the sex role factors and pregnancy planning was found, 6 of the Scanzoni items, when linearly combined, manifested a strong relationship to planning: 1) wife's emotional nature; 2) wife's most important task is caring for husbands and kids; 3) wife takes job if not satisfied with wife/mom role; 4) wife gives up job if inconveniences husband/kids; 5) wife's job as important as husband's job; 6) women's pay equal to man's. Although 4 of these items load on the sex role factors, it is unclear whether they are truly reflective of these factors.     

The use of theory in family therapy research: a content analysis of family therapy journals

Ninety-five studies from Family Process and Journal of Marital and Family Therapy were evaluated with regard to their use of theory. While a majority of the articles were judged to use theory in either an explicit or an implicit manner, 42% did not appear to draw on theory in either the introductory or discussion sections. Studies that used qualitative methods appeared to use theory more frequently and explicitly than those using quantitative methods alone. Systems theory was found to be the most common conceptual framework, followed by feminism. We conclude that the link between theory and research in family therapy needs strengthening and suggest that the role of theory in family therapy be reexamined.     

Selfobject functions of the family: Implications for family therapy

The application of Self-Psychology theory to family functioning adds to our models of understanding and intervention in family therapy. This article develops a theory of the family as a supraordinate selfobject and explores diverse clinical applications of the theory. The family as a selfobject matrix enhances the self development of the child by the provision of continuity through the maintenance of proximity over time, and by an enhanced quality and quantity of selfobject responsiveness for the individual. This application of Self Psychology theory has wide implications for family therapy with children in foster care, family therapy with elderly couples coping with dementia in one spouse, and family therapy as a component of treatment with suicidal adolescents.     

The HIT LIST and other horror stories: sex roles and school transfer

A collection of scarey stories told to pupils facing transfer to secondary school is analysed. Five major themes can be found in the stories, which are discussed and explicated. Boys and girls hear and tell different stories, while males and females feature in contrasting roles in them. An analysis focusing on the messages about sex roles in secondary school transmitted by these stories is presented.     

Work and family roles: Contemporary women in Indonesia

The question of how women in contemporary Indonesia integrate their work and family roles is addressed. Pertinent literature is reviewed and personal observations about this topic are shared. Theoretical framework is provided by Janet Chafetz who has developed a theory of sex stratification. It is concluded that family‐work role integration is probably easier to achieve in Indonesia than in the United States because there may be less sex stratification, with males having the most advantage, in Indonesia. Specifically, the degree of gender differentiation and degree of occupational segregation by sex appear to be less in Indonesia than in the United States. Moreover, the concepts of masculinity and femininity are rarely used to distinguish attitudes and behavior of the sexes. Ideological support for sex stratification is unclear. As Indonesia develops economically, it will probably become more stratified by sex which will negatively affect the current ease of family‐work role integration of mothers.     

Ethics and family therapy: the case management of family violence*

All family therapists, and especially Milan-style systemic therapists, have been trained to take a neutral stance regarding family issues, based on a circular causality model of family interaction. Therefore, when therapists deal with family violence, their ability to perceive individual responsibility for unethical behavior is weakened or suppressed. In fact, this ability is the primary tool in developing effective treatment planning in cases of family violence: The actively physically abusive man needs to be in individual and/or group therapy, not conjoint or family therapy. The ethical judgment of the therapist is what determines the limits of family therapy.     

Shifting the Focus:

Agencies that serve survivors of sexual violence have frequently failed to make services accessible to lesbians and gay men. Similarly, agencies serving lesbians and gay men have frequently overlooked the problem of sexual violence in this community. One hundred fort-five lesbians, gay men and bisexuals responded to a survey about their knowledge of services for survivors of sexual violence, the services they need and want, their perceptions of sexual violence in the gay and lesbian community, and the extent of sexual victimization in the gay and lesbian community. Forty-one percent of respondents reported that they had been sexually victimized, and the majority believed that education programs were the most important service needed.     

The spiritual genogram in family therapy

Spiritual and religious issues often surface during marital and family therapy. In this article, I describe a spiritual genogram that is a multigenerational map of family members' religious and spiritual affiliations, events, and conflicts. Used as a tool in family therapy, the spiritual genogram enables clients to make sense of their families' religious/spiritual heritage and to explore the ways in which their experiences impact present couple or family issues.     

Silent dark: the orders of silence

ABSTRACT

This article examines anxiety, arguing that it is a systemic feature of neoliberalism which regenerates the economy and acts in a conservative manner, thereby effectively preventing social change. Anxiety is explored using psychoanalytic theory to extend Foucault’s conception of neoliberal governmentality as proposed in his lectures on neoliberalism at the Collège de France. Relying on Foucault’s notion of governmentality as an analytic perspective, this article does not present the economy or the state as the origin of power in neoliberalism. Rather, these are seen as mediums of power, whereas the anchorage point of power relations is understood to be a particular form of governmentality. In neoliberalism, this anchorage point of power is largely supported and strongly characterised by anxiety. While examining the psychic life of power in neoliberalism, I avoid positioning and thus analysing anxiety either on the individual or the macro level of society. Rather, showing that anxiety exposes the weakness of such clean divisions, it is argued that neoliberal subjects are nowadays governed through anxiety.