Long-term family therapy: A developmental approach

The emphasis in family therapy literature on brief therapy has given a false sense of what family therapy can accomplish. While it has helped to develop different theories of change and refine techniques to deal with resistance, it has caused many clinicians to mistake technique for treatment. A long term developmental approach is advocated in which the family therapist is the general practitioner rather than the specialist. This paper is the result of a 30-year caseload in which there was a group of multi-therapy families.