Eliciting children's thinking in families and family therapy.

In this article, I introduce a way of talking between a therapist and children, which aims to be more adaptive to the family therapy context than the modes of communication with children often reported by individual psychotherapists. Although the recent increase in articles concerned with the role of children in family therapy is welcomed, I suggest that the common recommendation of the use of "play" and nonverbal methods of communication with young children can at times introduce its own constraints on a child's thinking. A method of engagement in "dialectical" conversations with children is described, and illustrated with verbatim case examples. It is argued that this offers one route to a discourse commonly used between children, and one that acknowledges their capacity to think.     

Women in families: feminist therapy and family systems*

Current family therapy has as its basis the concept of the family as a system. Systems theory has developed a set of explanations that are frequently functional in nature; they are often applied as though they assume that within a system a common goal is worked towards as in biological systems. For example, the concept of homeostasis is used in much the same way as Cannon (1929) used it to describe the mechanisms of stability within biological systems such as body temperature regulation. Here all the components of the system co-operate to maintain body temperature within certain limits. This functional assumption of a common aim amongst components of a system to achieve balance should be compared with a pluralist systems analysis which does not assume such commonality of goals. For example, a pluralist analysis could highlight the conflict inherent amongst different subsystems when one subsystem has more power than the other. At a theoretical level it can be seen that family systems theory has restricted itself to a limited set of assumptions about the explanatory concepts it uses. An analysis of women's psychology which has emerged through the developments of feminist therapy can enrich the theory and practice of family therapists.     

The comparative efficacy of Milan family therapy for disturbed children and their families

This paper describes a study comparing the efficacy of Milan family therapy with that of other treatments routinely used in an out-patient child psychiatry department. Some 118 subjects were allocated on a random, prospective basis to one of two treatment groups, the Milan family therapy group or the other treatments group. The methods of assessment included semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, visual analogue scales and standardized therapy schedules. The results showed that whilst subjects in both treatment groups achieved comparable symptomatic improvement at the end of treatment and at six-month follow-up, the Milan approach produced more changes for family members other than the referred child as well as requiring less treatment time than the other treatments.     

Intensive family therapy: a way to change family functioning in multi-problem families

TA single group treatment outcome study of intensive family therapy (IFT) is presented. One hundred and nine families from five Swedish units participated and results on family measures for eighty-six of these families are reported. This multi-centre study is the largest so far of this treatment model. The units offered a full-day multi-impact treatment programme for families during an intensive period of approximately one month preceded by a period of extensive planning. Measures used were the self-rating 'Family Climate' and Family Relation Scale and observer-rated CRS-Turbo and the Beavers' System Scales. Significant changes in the direction towards a better family climate and a higher family functioning occurred. Given the very difficult circumstances of these multi-problem families the results are considered promising.     

Using Minuchin's structural family therapy techniques with Italian-American families

Italian-American families have general characteristics about which family therapists should be informed in order to select appropriate and effective family therapy for this cultural group. The author identifies Minuchin's structural family therapy techniques as relevant for working with Italian-American families, adding a note of personal validation of the need and efficacy of the Minuchin approach.     

Videotaped simulated families as a tool in family therapy outcome research

Twenty-two therapists who had treated 57 families in brief conjoint family therapy under supervision responded to a videotaped simulated family as if they were treating it. Their responses were audiotaped and coded on a system devised for this study. Positive relationships were found between the ratings of expertise based on the coding system, and independent ratings of the treated families' satisfaction with treatment and the status of the presenting symptoms 6 months after termination. Videotaped simulated families are potentially useful as standardizable methods of revealing individual differences in therapists for family therapy outcome research.     

The conflict cycle in families and therapy

Conflict is not an aberration but rather part of the structure of human relationships. It is defined in this paper as consisting of four stages. Once the first stage (the dispute) is triggered, there is a high likelihood that the second (blaming) will occur, and the third (shame, guilt, or denial), and then the fourth (reparation, reconciliation, or retaliation). Three case presentations illustrate the conflict cycle in various clinical and nonclinical situations. The family therapist should be readily able to identify the cycle in clinical situations, and knowledge of it should prove fruitful in identifying pathogenic relating and in planning interventions and their timing.     

Couples' cultural values, shared parenting, and family emotional climate within Mexican American families

This study tested a model of shared parenting as its centerpiece that incorporates cultural values as predictors and family emotional climate as the outcome variable of interest. We aimed to assess the predictive power of the Mexican cultural values of familismo and simpatia over couples' shared parenting practices. We anticipated that higher levels of shared parenting would predict family emotional climate. The participants were 61 Mexican American, low income couples, with at least one child between 3 and 4 years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The predictive model demonstrated excellent goodness of fit, supporting the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered when Mexican American couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting. Empirical evidence was previously scarce on this proposition. The findings also provide evidence for the role of cultural values, highlighting the importance of family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation as a pathway to shared parenting within Mexican American couples.     

Understanding families in their own context: schizophrenia and structural family therapy in Beijing

Evidence from a number of family intervention strategies demonstrates a beneficial impact on the course of schizophrenia. It appears that different family interventions have generic features that aid the patient to avoid relapse and improve functioning. A significant challenge for researchers is to modify these generic strategies to be sensitive to different cultural groups in order to ensure their effectiveness. Chinese culture, with its distinct cultural norms governing family interaction and intense stigma towards the mentally ill, would seem to raise a particular challenge.
This paper offers an account of an eclectic model of structural family therapy that incorporates psychoeducation and behavioural treatments for schizophrenia as a theoretical guide to working in a cross–cultural context. A Beijing family, consisting of parents and their daughter with schizophrenia, were seen for sixteen months during a trial of family intervention in China. Through structural family concepts, China's sociocultural context of treatment resource constraints, population policy and stigma are examined and the impact of the illness on family organization is explored.     

Similar minds in the family: COVID-19 centrality and relationship quality

We examined whether perceived similarity in COVID-19 centrality (i.e., the extent to which one thinks of the pandemic as shaping current and future life) is associated with family relationship quality during the pandemic. Thinking that other family members are similar to oneself regarding the pandemic's centrality may improve the quality of family relationships. We collected data from Turkish family triads (i.e., mother, father, 18–25 years old child) and had 481 participants from 180 families. Participants rated their similarity in COVID-19 centrality with the other two family members and reported the general and daily quality of their relationship with them (relationship satisfaction, closeness, conflict). We analyzed the data using the Social Relations Model. We found that family members who, on average, perceived more similarity in COVID-19 centrality reported higher levels in positive attributes of general relationship quality (i.e., satisfaction and closeness). The effects on conflict and daily relationship quality were less conclusive. This research confirms that family members' reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic are interdependent. Perceiving that other family members are of similar minds about the centrality of the pandemic relates positively to some aspects of relationship quality.     

Essay on feminist family therapy: A review ofWomen in families: A framework for family therapy andThe invisible web: Gender patterns in family relationships

Monica McGoldrick, Carol M. Anderson, and Froma Walsh (Eds.). (1989).Women in families: A framework for family therapy. New York: W. W. Norton.     

Connectedness versus separateness: applicability of family therapy to Japanese families.

This article, a product of the two authors' multicultural experiences, contrasts British and Japanese families in order to examine the applicability of the Western model of family therapy to Japanese families and therapists. Areas where the Western model is incompatible are identified, and modifications to fit the Japanese indigenous model are suggested. The most significant difference in value systems between the two cultures is the Japanese preference for connectedness. The Japanese person is seen as a part of the embedded interconnectedness of relationships, whereas British norms prioritize separateness and clear boundaries in relationships, individuality, and autonomy. This value orientation is manifested in the Japanese language, hierarchical nature of the family structure, the family life cycle, and the implicit communication style. Systemic thinking, which deals with the pattern of relationships, is valid for all families regardless of cultural differences. But therapists should note that the preferred direction of change for Japanese families in therapy, is toward a process of integration--how a person can be effectively integrated into the given system--rather than a process of differentiation. An authoritative therapist style, the use of individual sessions, silence, and other nonverbal techniques are relevant to bringing about the desired change toward better integration of the individual with his or her networks.     

The family career development project in Chinese Canadian families

Based on an action-theoretical conceptualization, this research examined the family career development project in Chinese Canadian families. Six families, each composed of a parent and adolescent, participated in a videotaped conversation to determine a family career development project that was subsequently monitored over a 6-month period and followed up with a second videotaped conversation. The further analysis of these data from a larger data set of 20 Chinese Canadian and European Canadian families resulted in the delineation of several properties of the career development project in Chinese Canadian families, including the importance of the parental agenda, the adolescent’s involvement, parental communication of convincing reasoning, and the adolescent’s withholding and withdrawing response. The findings also indicated that a family career development was central to other higher order projects in the family, including the relationship and cultural projects. The data supported the understanding of project as joint goal-directed action over time and as the basis on which career development influence was organized in these families.     

The centrality of Christology

Martin Luther seemingly never read the works of Nicholas Cusanus; still, scholars have found the relationship between the two to be an intriguing one. In this essay, it is argued that this relationship is best explored as a common emphasis both on divine unknowability and on the significance of Christology, and that this common emphasis is closely related to the importance they both attached to the works of Plato and Dionysius at important points in their careers. Given this common framework, it comes as no wonder that they both found the Pauline gospel of justification through faith and Chalcedonian two-nature Christology indispensable both philosophically and theologically. In this way, they represent a renewal of central aspects of the theology of the Church Fathers that today seem both theologically attractive and ecumenically relevant.