Irrational beliefs and conflict-handling orientations

Before a series of conflict-resolution and communication-skills workshops, measures were obtained on the dependent variables of conflict-handling orientations and on the independent variables of irrational beliefs. The population was rather general, i.e. nonstudent, nonclinical and non-volunteer, who were the managers and the engineers of three enterprises. Correlation analysis showed that irrational beliefs underlying anger, anxiety, frustration, guilt and other negative emotions were correlated with different conflict-handling orientations. On the basis of the obtained results a series of workshops was conducted in the format of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET).Mikhael I. Timofeev, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Inter-Branch Institute of Advanced Training, St. Petersburg Technical University, Politechnicheskaya, 29, St. Petersburg, 195251, Russia.     

Countertransference and the developing family therapist: Treatment and supervision issues

All therapists experience reactions toward clients, which have traditionally been called countertransference. Such reactions toward families pose special issues for beginning and developing family therapists. This clinically based and clinically oriented article describes some of the reactions, clues pointing to their existence, and indicates some of the ways beginning and developing family therapists and their supervisors and consultants can deal constructively with these reactions.     

Marriage and family therapy education: Emerging trends and issues

The field of marriage and family therapy has enjoyed unparalleled growth during the last decade. This rapid growth has been the catalyst for several emerging educational trends that warrant close attention. This paper examines nine emerging trends in MFT education with attention devoted to a number of critical issues.     

Manufacturing multiple meanings of addiction: Time-limited realities

This article explores how clinicians, patients, and addiction as a youthful science manufacture meaning. Explanations of addictive behavior and addictive disease are viewed as constructs, ideologies, or ways of making meaning. This analysis considers the controversy—over whether addiction qualifies as a disease—to be primarily a matter of epistemology and social perception. Since there is no widespread agreement about what isease means in general, it is not possible to determine whether or not addiction is a disease in particular. The discussion also envisions how treatment for addicted clients might be reformulated as a transactional process utilizing the range of relevant theoretical models as time-limited reframes of addictive reality instead of dichotomizing addiction as either a disease or not.The authors extend thanks to Michelle Bowdler, Nancy Costikyan, Blase Gambino, Teri Loughead, Janet Mann, Peter Monius, Arthur Robbins, and Mitchell Young for their helpful assistance, suggestions, and comments on earlier drafts of this article.     

AX murderers,dragons, spiders and webs: Therapeutic metaphors in couple therapy

Using metaphors in psychotherapy is not a new practice. Metaphor has long occupied the interests of theorists and practitioners of psychoanalysis. Recently, influenced by the work of Erikson, metaphors have been utilized by non-analytic therapists. This paper explores the historical background of metaphors, examines the components of metaphors, explores metaphors and the social construction of reality, and presents a discussion of the use of metaphor in couple therapy.     

Ethnocentrism and beyond: Letters between a family therapist and an advocate of alcoholics anonymous

Both family therapists and advocates of 12-step programs are vulnerable to ethnocentrism, a one-way zeal that can inhibit collaboration and make it difficult to appreciate other ways to help individuals with drug and alcohol problems. Included is a series of letters between a family therapist and an advocate of Alcoholics Anonymous which illustrates the problems inherent in such ethnocentrism. An alternative position is also discussed which involves professional collaboration and an appreciation of the strengths of both traditions.Fred P. Piercy, PhD, is professor of family therapy and director of training and research in the family therapy doctoral program, Department of Child Development and Family Studies, at Purdue University.The letter writer's name and identifying information have been changed to protect his identity. This paper is not about Jim but about certain issues his letters raise for all of us.     

The unforgivable humiliation: A Dilemma in couples' treatment

Therapists sometimes encounter cases of intense marital discord in which the disaffected spouse seems unable to specify the reason for his or her discontent except in the vaguest, most general terms. Such cases may be extraordinarily difficult to treat, as the disaffected partner may seem impervious to any attempt at negotiation, to the point of dissolution of the marriage. The reason for the disaffected spouse's intransigence may seem unclear to the other spouse, to the therapist, and even to herself/himself. We hypothesize an explanation for this phenomenon in terms of the disaffected partner's experience of having suffered humiliation at the hands of the other spouse and offer a plan for treatment, citing case materials.     

Critical incidents: Life events for experienced family therapists

Summary The results of this investigation suggest that therapists' professional style and clinical use of self patterns are impacted by critical life events occurring in their personal life. Many subjects reflected on how changes in their family constellations (both family of origin and family of procreation) were important to their professional development. They frequently mentioned that marriage, children, divorce, and illness or death of a loved one impacted their personal and, then, their professional lives. The important life events of becoming a parent or losing a significant loved one was specifically mentioned as strongly influencing changes in one's professional direction and therapeutic style.Becoming a parent caused the interviewees to reevaluate their expectations of their own parents, their client families and themselves. Changes in career aspirations, interactional patterns, and the capacity to be consistent and calm were explored and understood differently. Many subjects described how this transition in their own life shifted their primary focus and altered many of their existing relationships. In particular, female therapists with younger children related how their sense of being female changed. They sought out other women for intimate contact more frequently, they understood their own mothers better, and they frequently were less judgmental of mothers in their client families.Along with creating their own families, death of a parent was keynoted as having a strong impact on the subjects' personal and professional lives. They described questioning (and frequently changing) the amount of time they spent working and the type of work they did. Many began to push for more emotionally intense relationships personally and therapeutically. Detailing how their therapeutic goals for a family now included connection-making rather than just problem solving, they described being much more willing to share their vulnerabilities and personal needs with clients.