Anorexia Nervosa: The Hospital's Role in Family Treatment

When an anorexia nervosa patient requires hospitalization for her ¹ 1 We will use the pronoun “her” to refer to anorexic patients since the overwhelming majority are female. Our discussion will focus mainly on younger adolescent girls who are still living with their families.
medical condition, the treatment team faces the problem of integrating the individual focus of inpatient care with the systems focus of family therapy. In this paper we propose a family-systems model of hospitalization, the aim of which is to facilitate such integration. The model draws on current theories of anorexia nervosa, as well as general concepts from psychodynamic, developmental, and family systems theories. The major hypothesis of the model is that all members of the anorexic family are developmentally arrested in the area of separation-individuation. On this assumption, we propose that the entire treatment team (including medical professionals and therapists) needs to function as “parents” to the anorexic family in much the same way that two cotherapists become parental figures in family therapy. Specifically, the team needs to provide those parenting responses that facilitate the family's individuation process.     

Male Client—Female Therapist

An understanding of the destructive effects of the traditional sex role stereotype on men is important to the female therapist who works with male clients. Males receive strong cultural training that inspires resistance to the vulnerable, emotional, feminine side of their natures and an unwillingness to seek assistance. This article examines difficulties presented by male clients who do seek therapy together with approaches to assisting in the development of a more balanced life that permits both masculinity and femininity in each person.     

Relationships Between Contraceptive Behavior and Love Attitudes,Sex Attitudes,and Self-Esteem

The current research took into account two previously developed models of effective contraceptive behavior, a model emphasizing interpersonal variables and a model emphasizing intrapersonal variables. The purpose was to identify variables related to contraception that could be addressed during contraceptive counseling and to aid persons in deciding the most effective contraceptive method within the context of an intimate relationship. The research used questionnaire responses from 350 male and female college undergraduates. Results indicated some support for aspects of both models, with modest relationships between contraceptive behavior and attitudes toward both love and sex, and self-esteem. The difficulties of developing a comprehensive model of contraceptive behavior are discussed, as are some practical implications of this research.     

housewife,Mother, Other: Needs and Helpers

Throughout the country many women with school-age children are attempting to find a means of becoming active outside the home. In this article the authors describe these women and discuss the impact of the women's movement on them. They also discuss the new agencies and the counselors that have been helping these women in their quest for liberation, and they point out the challenges that counselors have the opportunity to meet.