This well-respected text provides an exciting and unparalleled approach to family therapy. The book is the first of its kind to endorse a training process that links individual and group counseling theories and practices to those used in marriage and family therapy.

The third edition to this best-selling text is expanded to help families handle pressing issues such as Alzheimer’s disease, HIV, and chronic medical problems, and address the needs of rural families and families with gifted children. The unique organizational approach demonstrates the importance of employing systems theories while never undermining the relationship between client and therapist.

The first part of the book is dedicated to the development of the family therapy movement, which is informed not only by systems based theories buy also by the 12 core counseling skills used with individuals and groups. This relationship is further emphasized in the second part of the book, which describes psychodynamic, cognitive/behavioral, and humanistic, existential, and transpersonal theories. The third part includes updated discussions on special needs families, professional issues and ethics, plus a chapter on conflict resolution and a separate chapter on research in family counseling.

Special Features

• Fosters important skill development for more effective, well rounded counselors
• Links individual and group counseling theories to the most closely related systems theories
• Addresses the concerns of special needs families using the latest research
• Presents twenty case studies to illustrate systems theories

Contents

Part I: Introducing and Understanding Marriage and Family Therapy

1. Counseling Families: An Introduction
2. The Family as a System
3. From Individual Counseling to Marriage and Family Therapy: Building Theoretical Bridges
4. Using Core Counseling Skills in Marriage and Family Therapy

Part II: Helping Couples and Families: Bridging Individual and Systems Theories

5. Psychodynamic TheoriesSeptember 7, 2010Psychodynamic Systems Theories
7. Cognitive/Behavioral Theories in Family Treatment
8. Cognitive/Behavioral Systems Theories
9. Humanistic, Existential, and Transpersonal Theories in Family Treatment
10. Humanistic, Existential and Transpersonal Systems Theories

Part III: Special Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy

11. Conflict Resolution in Family Treatment
12. Treating Families With Special Needs
13. Research in Marriage and Family Therapy
14. Professional Issues and Ethics

448 pages
2003/paperback/ISBN 978-0-89108-347-4
$68.00