Family Therapy — A Science or an Art?

Family therapy can be viewed as science and as art. Following leads provided by Gregory Bateson, this paper reflects on problems and promises inherent in both views.     

Observations on the First International Conference on Children of Holocaust Survivors

This first large-scale gathering of children of Holocaust survivors revealed — more from the unanticipated group process of the conference than from its official proceedings — that the second generation seeks a collective identity subordinate neither to the older generation of parents nor of mental-health authorities. Vital moments of tension and reconciliation at the conference between the children's self-help movement (with a sizable membership of young mental-health professionals) and distinguished mental-health experts indicated the legitimacy of intergenerational encounter and the place that it will likely be accorded in future meetings.     

On the Nature of Marital Relationships: Measurable Differences in Spontaneous Agreement

The Spontaneous Agreement (SA) scores on a lengthened form of the Ferreira-Winter Questionnaire of 242 normal and 177 abnormal couples were compared in a cross-sectional study, taking into account the duration of their marriage. For those couples married a short time, SA did not differ for the two groups. The overall SA was higher for normals, and the longer the normal couples were married, the higher their SA. SA did not increase with duration of marriage for abnormal couples. Both groups had higher SA scores than synthetically matched couples.     

Researching Ethnic Family Stereotypes

Ethnic stereotypes in the family therapy literature make intuitive sense, but are based on surprisingly little empirical data. In a questionnaire survey of the family experiences of 220 mental health professionals representing eight American ethnic groups, most items differentiated the groups as predicted. A smaller, partial replication study comparing samples from Holland, Ireland, and North America found fewer discriminating items, but the differences that did appear were again as predicted. Implications for therapy and research with ethnic families are discussed.     

Personal Pronoun Usage in Families of Schizophrenics And Social Space Utilization

Personal pronoun usage of individuals in interaction is proposed as an index of the social functioning of both the individuals and the groups. The interaction of schizophrenic young adults, male and female, with their mothers and fathers, is compared with that of normal young adults with their parents in these terms. Previous findings regarding disproportionate use of the first person singular by schizophrenics are confirmed, and it would appear that this behavior is not learned tom their parents who are low in usage of these pronouns. Findings of other studies regarding male-female differences in schizophrenics and coalition patterns and social control mechanisms in their family interactions are also suggested by the data.