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Medical family therapy: an emerging arena for family therapy |
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| Authors: | William J Doherty Susan H McDaniel† Jeri Hepworth‡ |
| Institution: | Professor, Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, 290 McNeal Hall, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.;Associate Professor and Director of Postgraduate Family Therapy Training Program in Psychiatry, and co-Director of Psychosocial Programs in Family Medicine, at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York, USA.;Associate Professor, Associate Residency Director, and Director of Behavioral Sciences, Department of Family Medicine, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, USA. |
| Abstract: | This paper describes an important recent development in American family therapy. Medical family therapy uses a biopsychosocial systems model to work with families who have a member with a chronic illness or disability. The authors maintain that family therapy has tended to embrace the mind–body split and to view itself too narrowly as a mental health specialty. Medical family therapists work collaboratively with physicians and other health professionals to help families achieve a sense of agency and communion in facing some of the greatest challenges that life brings. |
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