Integrative Shifts for the Theory and Practice of Family Systems Therapy

This paper describes several disagreements among approaches to family therapy and proposes two conceptual shifts providing a more integrative perspective. The first shift focuses on the implications of different ways therapists orient themselves to the developing structures of the therapy system and to the disabled structures of the client system. The second shift reconsiders theoretical approaches in terms of the types of distance they require of the therapist and the types of information these distances provide and ignore. Finally, the paper also discusses a means for classifying the different types of goals therapists establish for their clients, emphasizing that these goals must be consistent with the clients' views of themselves and the world.     

Interactive Frameworks for Investigation of Goal Programming Models: Theory and Practice

This paper discusses means of introducing decision maker input into the goal programming model in order to produce more satisfactory solutions. Both formal interactive methods and informal trial-and-error approaches are discussed. The design criteria for the choice of the initial test solution and the stopping criteria for the final solution are detailed. The area of presentation of results to, and elicitation of preferences from, the decision maker is dealt with. Practical suggestions for means of parameter alteration to produce alternative solutions are given. Finally, the integration of the above issues into an integrated framework is discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

图式治疗理论与实践

由于传统认知行为疗法治疗人格障碍面临许多问题和挑战,Young在认知行为疗法的基础上创建了图式治疗。图式治疗关注患者的早期适应不良图式和适应不良的应对方式,并通过一系列治疗策略,帮助患者改变早期适应不良图式,形成更健康的行为方式。图式治疗是在传统认知行为疗法的基础上,结合依恋理论、客体关系理论、格式塔理论和建构主义理论的整合治疗模型,其整合的优势为今后的发展带来很大空间     

Illness, Family Theory, and Family Therapy: I.Conceptual Issues

This article examines and clarifies controversies about the concept of illness in the field of family therapy. We contend that illness, as traditionally understood in all cultures, is a relational, transactional concept that is highly congruent with core principles of present-day family theories. Family therapists need not buy into a biotechnical, reductionistic reframing of illness as disease. Rather, it is more appropriate to conceptualize and work with illness as a narrative placed in a biopsychosocial context. Such a narrative includes how shared responsibility for coping and for finding solutions can take place, without becoming involved in disputes about causal models.     

Family Secrecy in Family Therapy Practice: An Explorative Focus Group Study

The aim of this focus group study was to explore the experiences of family therapists working with family secrecy. Our study highlights that family secrets present important and compelling challenges for family therapists. Furthermore, our study reveals that there seem to be some basic strategies family therapists use in dealing with these challenges in therapy sessions. One basic strategy is that family therapists try to guard their position of being a trustworthy therapist for each family member by avoiding becoming stuck in family secrecy. Furthermore, therapists explore ways to guide the family toward the disclosure of the secret in order to alleviate the toxicity of the secrecy. This highlights the importance of the systemic model and how influential this perspective is in family therapy practice. Some participants, however, have in addition a second strategy they sometimes use: talking with the family about secrecy without aiming to disclose the secret. In the discussion section of the article we reflect on the possibility that in the strategic choices family therapists make conceptual issues might be involved. Furthermore, we stress the importance of further research.     

Book Review of Adlerian Therapy: Theory and Practice

Book reviewed in this article: Adlerian Therapy: Theory and Practice, by Jon Carlson, Richard E. Watts, and Michael Maniacci, 2006     

Third‐Order Thinking in Family Therapy: Addressing Social Justice Across Family Therapy Practice

We contend that the field of family therapy is undergoing a notable shift from second‐ to third‐order thinking. We offer theoretical support and examples to demonstrate how third‐order thinking provides a framework for integrating heightened sociocultural attunement into family therapy practice. We discuss the importance of third‐order thinking relative to being prepared to invite families into third‐order change. Finally, we offer a case example to show specific guidelines for third‐order practice.     

Practice and Training in Family Therapy: A Known Group Study

The present study reports on a comparative survey of the belief and action systems of graduates who had been intensively trained in one of three of the major models of family therapy: Bowenian, communications, and strategic. An analysis of the factor-analyzed assumptions (belief system) and style (action system) items showed consistently greater divergence among the three models than convergence, as well as a remarkable synchronicity between the respective literature on these three models and their implementation, as represented by family therapists intensively trained in each model. A comparison of the present study's findings with previous research strongly supports the potency of formal and intensive training for developing adherents of a particular model and suggests that the distinctiveness of each model needs to be more fully developed in preference to premature attempts to develop generic or inclusive models that may become internally inconsistent and therefore difficult to operationalize in practice.     

The Practice of Exposure Therapy: Relevance of Cognitive-Behavioral Theory and Extinction Theory

Exposure therapy is the most effective psychological intervention for people with anxiety disorders. While many therapists learn how to implement exposure techniques through clinical training programs or instructional workshops, not all of these educational efforts include a focus on the theory underlying this treatment. The availability of treatment manuals providing step-by-step instructions for how to implement exposure makes it easier for clinicians to use these techniques with less training than they might otherwise receive. This raises questions regarding whether it is necessary to understand the theory behind the use of exposure. This article argues that knowledge of the relevant theory is crucial to being able to implement exposure therapy in ways that optimize both short- and long-term outcome. Specific ways in which theory is relevant to using exposure techniques are discussed.