Families-at-risk and home-based intervention: A therapist training model

Home-based family therapy programs are designed to provide intensive family intervention for at-risk children and adolescents. However, examination of the literature reveals limited publications about training therapists for this difficult task. The purpose of this paper is to describe a therapist training model based upon a family-as-context approach to crisis intervention. Specific units covered during the course include: family-as-a-system, structural family therapy, family crisis intervention, family assessment and simulation. It is concluded that the effective prevention of placement for at-risk children and adolescents requires both a home-based family treatment program and a specific therapist training model for family intervention.John J. Zarski, PhD, is a professor in the marriage and family therapy training program at the University of Akron. Carol A. Pastore is program coordinator for the T.I.E.S. program in Canton, OH. A. Lynette Way and Richard N. Shepler are home-based therapists with T.I.E.S. The authors would like to express their appreciation to Professor John West for his helpful comments on drafts of this article.     

Recent developments in family behavioral marital therapy

This paper reviews recent developments in the area of behavioral marital therapy (BMT). New information is summarized regarding the long-term efficacy of BMT and the identification of predictors of positive response to treatment and to relapse. Finally, new applications of BMT techniques are reviewed (e.g., spouse-involved therapies as the sole treatment for presenting problems in which marital distress is not the primary focus such as anxiety and affective disorders).     

The role of intuition in family research: Three issues of ethics

The thesis of this chapter is that, unless one has had brain-surgery, a stroke, or has some organic deficiency, we are all whole-brained people, therapists and researchers alike. To elaborate on this point, this article is focused on the role of intuition in family research. Ethical issues in family research are viewed as similar to those in symbolic experiential family therapy. Three ethical issues, counter-transference, mutual benefit, and discovery, are discussed.Appreciation is expressed to the University of Minnesota Agriculture Experiment Station for their support of this work.     

Spouse killing: The final abuse

As an alternative to the sado-masochistic interpretation of violent spouse abuse, a quasi-romantic perspective sees abuse as a consequence of intensive intimacy—even love. In this study, abuse is explained as a form of punishment of the partner who is experienced as the spoiler of the expectations, hopes and plans for a fulfilling long term, committed and attuned communion. He/she, who is perceived as the breaker of that intimate context has to be penalized, with the death-penalty being the extreme form of expression of outrage at the offense. Both husbands who killed their wives, and wives who killed their husbands, in their interviews with the author displayed a deep commitment to their marriages. This explains why their leave-takings were so violent and their exits so final. By killing the spoiler they could bury and let go of their romantic dreams! Less lethal forms of spouse abuse-battering, enslavement, etc., often have the same element of punishment of the spoiler.Roger Carl F. Bach, Ph.D. participated in the data collection and the write-up of the results.     

Individual needs and charismatic promises

Using psychoanalytic theory, the author explains how a woman came to devote herself to a man's group that conceived of itself as the New Kingdom of God. He refers to notes from counseling sessions with the woman, Jane, and to excerpts from the book,T, which is an autobiography of the group's leader, Thomas. The author compares their ego profiles as measured on ego assessment scales and argues that this allows us to see how Thomas gained his charismatic status.     

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.