Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Bernstein, Robert M.

Titel

Review of: Methods of Family Therapy

Ist Teil von

• Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), 1987-10, Vol.24 (3S), p.657-658

Ort / Verlag

Division of Psychotherapy , American Psychological Association

Erscheinungsjahr

1987

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EBSCOhost APA PsycARTICLES

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Reviews the book, Methods of family therapy by Luciano L'Abate, Gary Ganahl, and James C. Hansen. The authors of Methods of Family Therapy have intentionally presented a "theory-free" compendium of family therapy intervention methods. The absence of a theoretical framework for organizing interventions deprives the reader of a systemic way of selecting his or her methods. Since this book is intended primarily for students, the absence of a conceptual framework for selecting methods is particularly disconcerting, given the student's lack of experience and the embryonic state of his or her clinical model. The methods in this book are not presented within a context that is sufficiently explicated to enable the reader to apply them. The authors seem to be uncertain as to how to address theory. The book is divided into four sections. Section I contains two chapters, one providing an overview of systems theory and the second addressing assessment and evaluation in family therapy. In section II, "Helping Families Change," positive refraining, prescriptions, written messages, and homework assignments are methods presented. Section III, "Helping Families Grow," contains a chapter on sculpting, which is the best of the volume. The final section presents the thesis that the ultimate goal of family therapy is enhanced negotiation skills among family members, which has been largely neglected in the family therapy literature. An "eclectic model for negotiation" is introduced. Perhaps this should have been the organizing model for this book. Although the book would have no longer been "theory-free," this model may have provided the thread to integrate the disparate methods presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)