Explores multiple understandings of empathy: as affective resonance, as cognitive understanding and perspective taking, as action and cognizance, and as imagination. Offers definitions of, and obstacles to, empathy. Focuses on systemic empathy, gender empathy, and ethnic empathy. Discusses perspective taking in marriage and describes techniques…

Explored common factors across theories of marriage and family therapy (MFT). Clinicians and researchers were asked to achieve consensus regarding common factors. Respondents were asked to report on commonalities across various MFT theories, as well as what they personally considered to be core the ingredients of change. Implications for training…

Q-sorts by experts were used to compare four structural/strategic/systemic therapy models. Results suggest that the models share a practical, strategic orientation to change, emphasizing reframing, but attach different importance to history, inference, abstraction, and contextual breadth. (Author)

This chapter discusses the development of an approach to counseling that allows counselors to incorporate family counseling into their individual counseling practices. The six-stage counseling process that is presented draws upon a broad-based behavior therapy/social learning theory approach. The stages of this process are identified as: establish…

This paper summarizes Iveys Developmental Counseling and Therapy theory and includes practical applications of theory, discusses the general concepts of family counseling theories and the family systems continuum, summarizes the central theoretical constructs and goals and practical therapeutic techniques of Systemic Cognitive-Developmental…

Reviews two conferences sponsored by the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy: "Professional Systems and the Family," focusing on the interfaces among family therapists and professionals in education, health care, and human resources, and "Family Systems Over Time: The Fourth Dimension," focusing on the family life cycle, and…

Investigates what kind of participant status young children (4-7 years old) acquire in family therapy talk so as to illustrate how social intercourse generates patterns of participant status. Findings based on 20 families and 19 different therapists raise questions about the interpretation of family therapy, especially in therapies where young…

Argues that there are severe and insurmountable problems in attempting to maintain a systemic perspective in family therapy. Advocates decentering family therapy to a more peripheral space within social network perspective. (Author/NB)

Summarizes one attempt to encourage family therapy graduate students to examine their own evolving family therapy assumptions. Presents theory-building questions organized as prompts for family therapy education to challenge the student to think through his or her evolving theory. Describes how theory-building questions were used in recent…

Presents interview with behavioral ecologist who discusses program concepts for stepfamily dysfunction. Four predictions which focus on stepfamily dynamics are: (1) expect greater conflict in stepfamily environments; (2) understand evolutionary basis of emotions; (3) anticipate flash points of family conflict; and (4) alter criteria for choosing…

Examines the development and implementation of a specific model for providing family counseling to immigrant and refugee families. Discusses the influence of narrative theory in its ability to address the challenges of ethno-cultural diversity and the imbalances of power inherent in cross-cultural counseling. Highlights the dynamics of a…

Reviews 15 years of clinical research in three family therapy (FT) journals that provide evidence for the effectiveness of marriage and family therapy. Considers designs that are being utilized in reports on the effectiveness of various models of FT. Makes connections between research and the everyday work of clinicians to make the work more…

Presents an overview of a research-informed family resilience framework, developed as a conceptual map to guide clinical intervention and prevention efforts with vulnerable families. Outlines key processes that foster resilience and innovative family systems training and service applications. (JDM)

Argues that there is significant disjunction between the way that families live their lives and the way that professionals theorize about families. Using the metaphor of positive and negative spaces, argues that there are many negative spaces in our theorizing--everyday family activities that take up considerable time, energy, and attention but…

There seems to be a preoccupation with "the family" today, and a current competition for the role of Family Saviour within the helping professions. Practitioners are much more conscious about protecting their territory from infringement by competitors in the current funding situation of human services. Overlapping professionals doing variations on…