This book is designed to bridge the gap between the reality of professional practice and what is being written about it in professional publications. It is divided into three sections, focusing on the techniques of assessment, transgenerational techniques, and constructivist techniques. Section one argues that assessment is the basis of all effective interventions. It draws the conclusion that using the most effective techniques for assessment can make the difference between therapeutic success and failure. The second section considers transgenerational understanding of intervention, and highlights religious and intimacy genograms as well as questionnaires and inventories. In the third section, contemporary constructivist techniques for helping couples and families are discussed. It presents techniques such as the structured externalization interview, therapeutic gossip, and scriptotherapy. Chapter titles include: (1) "Using an Informed Consent Brochure to Help Establish a Solid Therapeutic Relationship" (D. M. Kaplan) (2) "Using Figure/Ground to Focus Treatment with Couples and Families" (C. Baldwin); (3) "Using Jungian Type Psychology to Value Complementary Preferences in Couples" (Harmon); (4) "Personality Priorities in Couples Counseling" (J. M. Holden); (5) "Using Play Therapy to Assess Family Dynamics" (D.S. Sweeney, S.L. Rocha)); (6) "Graphic Perceptions" (F. DaJiolid); (7) "Using the How I Remember My Family Questionnaire in Couples Counseling" (R. E. Watts); (8) "Using the BASIS-An Inventory with Couples" (M.S. Wheeler); (9) "Perception Pie" (J. Zarski, P. Parr); (10) "Constructing Religious/Spiritual Genograms" (M.W. Frame); (11) "Unresolved Couple Conflict: Clinical Use of the Family of Origin Scale" (A. J. Hovestadt); (12) "The Intimacy Genogram" (R. Sherman); (13) "Self-Focus Exercise" (S.A. Gallagher Warden); (14) "Dissolving a Problem: Structuring Externalizing Interviews with Couples" (J.R. Bitter) ; (15) "Using Audio and Video Feedback" (M.R. Carns); (16) "Bringing a Symbol: An Experiental Exercise for Systematic Change" (P. Erdman); (17) "Scriptotherapy: Therapeutic Writing for Couples and Families" (R. J. Riordan, J.E. Soet); and (18) "Therapeutic Gossip" (W.M. Walsh, R. Keenan). (Contains 151 references, 4 figures, and 1 appendix.) (Author/JDM).