Argues that the family and the enterprise of family therapy are social systems and under the influence of the ideology particular to a given society. The strategic family therapy treatment of a family with a drug-addicted member serves as an example to clarify the ideological themes of contemporary family therapy. (Author/BL)

Presents a cybernetic view of brief family therapy. Includes a historical discussion of the key ideas underlying brief family therapy, a cybernetic model of therapeutic change, and a clinical case for exemplification. (Author/JAC)

Describes the process of how counseling theory is constructed in the classroom, deconstructed in the workplace, and then reconstructed to meet the unique needs of individual counselors. Marital and family counselor educators and students can both benefit from knowledge about this process. (Author/MKA)

Makes a theoretical comparison between Adlerian and analytic formulations of family assessment in a case study involving a recently divorced couple and a child with encopresis. Discussed the family relationship in terms of object relations theory emphasizing intrapsychic experience, and Adlerian theory emphasizing the purposes of behavior. (JAC)

Provides an overview for understanding the application of a structural-strategic family counseling model to school-based family counseling. Presents examples from a case study with a six-year-old boy experiencing behavior problems in school, which occurred as problems escalated between his mother and grandmother. Several implications are discussed…

The assessment process can be integrated with treatment and evaluation for helping teenage suicide attempters and families in short term psychiatric hospitalization programs. The method is an extremely efficient way for the therapist to work within a given time constraint. During family assessment sufficient information can be gathered to…

Using a case example, provides an overview of postmodern therapies in family counseling. Focuses on solution-focused therapy and narrative therapy; presents an example of a solution-focused interview and a narrative interview. Emphasizes that different views lead to different therapeutic goals and practices. (RJM)

This paper explores the history of deconstruction and discusses the use of the theories it involves within the author's work in family therapy situations. Jacques Derrida's term, deconstruction, has achieved widespread use among psychotherapists. This derives largely from the influence of Michael White, who has interpreted it in a Foucauldian way…

Presents a general model for the assessment of the problem maintenance process for family problems. Case studies demonstrate the model's use with symptomatic spouse, symptomatic child, and conflictual couple problems. Implications of the model for clinical practice are also discussed. (Author/JAC)

Discusses the competencies basic to Adlerian therapy--including influencing psychological movement, working with the family communication system, focusing on the real issue, aligning goals and dealing with resistance, stimulating social interest, encouragement, and tentative hypotheses, and antisuggestion. A specific process for helping the family…

This paper describes Crisis Theory, which views certain life events as creating hazards for individual and family growth. Family therapists should sieze every opportunity to intervene during crisis periods and view these periods as transitional states, with opportunities for enhanced growth and functioning. (Author)

Attempts to integrate career, family, and developmental theories using a family developmental psychology perspective. Looks at the synthesis of individual, interactional, and intergenerational forces that influence the career development of women, and discusses potentially inhibitory or facilitative conditions for the career growth of women. Case…

This book, intended as a text for therapists and counselors in family counseling, is based on principles of Adlerian psychology. The first chapter examines Adlerian theory and family counseling. Basic principles of individual psychology are applied to family counseling, and the goals of children with disturbing behavior are discussed. Reasons why…

Discusses symptom production and symptom maintenance in terms of psychodynamic and system-oriented family therapy approaches. The conceptual and operational hypotheses of both approaches stem from different logics. Describes their different sets of data, lines of inquiry and treatment strategies. (Author/JAC)

Describes a teaching strategy in which counselors-in-training vicariously work with clients according to various theoretical orientations for use in an introductory family-counseling course. An evolving vignette features a family in various developmental stages. Intergenerational transmission possibilities are introduced when trainees work with…