bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Life Cycle and Loss — The Spiritual Vacuum of Heroin Addiction
Authors: COLEMAN SANDRA B. , KAPLAN J. DOREENE , DOWNING ROBERT W.
Published: August 2004

This research studied the function of heroin addiction as a family‐learned method of coping with death, separation, and loss across the life cycle. Heroin addicts, psychiatric outpatients, and normal students were given an extensive interview and test battery to determine the incidence of loss of family members and significant others. Because the impact of death is often overcome through religious rituals, this study also investigated the subjects' perception of their families' religious values and orientation to life's meaning and purpose. Results indicate that the incidence of death differs significantly across groups and that addicts have a distinct orientation to death, are more suicidal, and have more premature and bizarre death experiences. During childhood they have more family separations, and they tend to develop a distinct pattern of continuously separating from and returning to their families. They are also less likely to have a clearly defined purpose in life. A subset of parents from each group were also interviewed and tested, and these results support the theory of the intergenerational transmission of behavior.
Enlisting Family Support in Drug Treatment
Authors: WERMUTH LAURIE , SCHEIDT SUSAN
Published: August 2004

Drug abuse programs often experience difficulties involving clients' families in treatment. This article describes general principles and specific techniques for recruiting family members in drug abuse programs and in other treatment settings. Stanton and Todd's principles of recruiting for family therapy in drug programs generally apply, adapted to a project that involves only one family member psychoeducational training rather than therapy. Additional principles include: focusing on family members who live with the client, tailoring recruitment to the needs of individual families, emphasizing how the family member will benefit, addressing resistance directly, helping families to build a support network, and informing family members of what is expected of them. The psychoeducational approach shows promise as a beneficial adjunct to client‐focused treatment and as a gateway to more extensive family treatment.
Sequences: Toward a Common Denominator of Family Therapy
Authors: BREUNLIN DOUGLAS C. , SCHWARTZ RICHARD C.
Published: August 2004

This paper presents a conceptual framework that is designed to help clinicians and researchers organize their observations of the complex network of interconnected sequences of behavior and thinking that constitute family interactions. This framework distinguishes four classes of recursive sequences, each of which is defined by its period, i.e., the amount of time it takes for a sequence to complete one cycle. The shortest sequences (S1) are those face‐to‐face interaction patterns that range in length from seconds to an hour. S2 sequences are played out over one day to one week, often depending on the routines of the family. S3 sequences range from several weeks to a year, and S4 sequences are those patterns of interaction and thought that repeat from generation to generation.

In addition to outlining this framework, the paper contends that in many families with a problem, pertinent sequences from each class may be related to the problem and to each other in a cybernetic manner. Suggestions are offered for identifying pertinent sequences from each class and for selecting interventions that best address the targeted sequence. We have found that this conceptual framework has enabled us to use techniques from many different schools of family therapy while avoiding the conceptual contradictions inherent in previous attempts to integrate approaches.
On Asking the Right Questions
Authors: RAYNER PETER , PHIL B.
Published: August 2004

Despite the vast array of theoretical formulations now available, none is sufficiently well developed. Some of the philosophical questions thrown up by such material are posed. Under the heading of “Discourse,” the questions of what constitutes reasonableness and how logical validity is established are raised. Under the heading of “Epistemology,” the nature of concept formulation and causality is raised. Under the heading of “Language,” the nature of linguistic representation and artificially constructed language or “artificial intelligence” is raised. It is suggested that these and other issues in the philosophy of science require the urgent attention of family therapy theorists.
Brief Therapy: Focused Solution Development
Authors: DE SHAZER STEVE , BERG INSOO KIM , LIPCHIK EVE , NUNNALLY ELAM , MOLNAR ALEX , GINGERICH WALLACE , WEINER‐DAVIS MICHELE
Published: August 2004

This article describes the form of brief therapy developed at the Brief Family Therapy Center. We have chosen a title similar to Weakland, Fisch, Watzlawick, and Bodin's classic paper, “Brief Therapy: Focused Problem Resolution” (20) to emphasize our view that there is a conceptual relationship and a developmental connection between the points of view expressed in the two papers.
Handicap and Rehabilitation: Two Types of information Upsetting Family Organization
Authors: CIRILLO STEFANO , SORRENTINO ANNA MARIA
Published: August 2004

This article aims to show that the birth of a physically handicapped child should be regarded as powerful information, compelling the family to reorganize. The three subsystems most frequently challenged by the onset of a handicap are examined: the extended family, the couple, and the siblings. Further potent information involving the whole family arises in the rehabilitation program by (a) placing demands on parents that may radically upset the existing equilibrium, and (b) inevitably entailing a highly significant relationship with the child's therapists. Rehabilitation staff should be adequately trained to monitor the various phases during which family members adjust to both these types of information (handicap and rehabilitation) in order to ward off the development of dysfunctional games. A family therapy approach is appropriate in the all too many cases in which a rigid dysfunctional game has already set in such that the handicapped member is playing the role of identified patient.
Jamaican Family Structure: The Paradox of Normalcy
Authors: DECHESNAY MARY
Published: August 2004

The relationship between basic research, theory, and clinical work with families is conceptualized during a discussion of Jamaican family structure and the application of change theory to a clinical case of depression in a Jamaican woman. It was found that three types of family structure are prevalent in Jamaica. The European ideal of a patriarchal‐patrifocal structure creates problems for working‐class Jamaicans. General system theory provides support for a different model. Change theory is applied to resolve the paradox created by the European model.
The Cybernetic Metaphor: A Critical Examination of Ecosystemic Epistemology as a Foundation of Family Therapy
Authors: FALZER PAUL R.
Published: August 2004

This article proposes that recent disputes between two groups of family therapists, represented by Watzlawick and Keeney, have a substantive base as yet unexplicated in current literature. However, guiding principles of the approach known as ecosystemic epistemology have received considerable attention by Wittgenstein, a colleague of Russell's, and Rorty, a contemporary philosopher. Both contend that the prospect of systematizing language and culture may be ill advised. The article suggests that discussion regarding the nature and practice of family therapy ought not be confined to epistemological thinking.
Social Competence and Family Environment: 15‐Year Follow‐Up of Disturbed Adolescents
Authors: ALBERS LAWRENCE J. , DOANE JERI A. , MINTZ JIM
Published: August 2004

Measures of familial emotional climate and communication deviance, obtained when subjects were adolescents, were used to predict social adjustment 15 years later. The results showed that disturbed family functioning predicted poor quality of later intimate relationships, but did not predict other dimensions of adult social functioning.
An Empirical Investigation of Interaction and Relationship Patterns in Functional and Dysfunctional Nuclear Families and Stepfamilies
Authors: ANDERSON JUDITH ZUCKER , WHITE GEOFFRY D.
Published: August 2004

This study identifies key variables that distinguish nuclear families from step‐families, and functional from dysfunctional stepfamilies. Sixty‐three family triads (mother, father, child) were studied using five instruments: (1) Family Concept Test, (2) Locke‐Wallace Marital Inventory, (3) Family Relations Test, (4) Family Interaction Task, and (5) background questionnaire. Results indicated that functional stepfamilies are similar to functional nuclear families in that both exhibit (1) good marital adjustment, (2) strong, positive bonds between biological parent and child, (3) disinclination to exclude family members, and (4) ability to make mutually compromised family decisions. The key differences were (1) less intense interpersonal involvement between the stepfather and child and (2) a stronger tendency toward the existence of parent‐child coalitions in stepfamilies. Similarities between dysfunctional step‐families and dysfunctional nuclear families include (1) stronger parent‐child coalitions compared to their functional counterparts and (2) lack of mutual decision‐making skills that fulfill the choices of individual members. Unexpectedly, marital adjustment was better in dysfunctional stepfamilies than in dysfunctional nuclear families. Relationship patterns were similar in functional stepfamilies and in dysfunctional stepfamilies except that they were more extreme in the dysfunctional stepfamilies. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications for understanding stepfamilies, and clinical implications in terms of how dysfunctional stepfamilies might best be treated.
An Existential/Dialectical Model for Analyzing Marital Functioning and Interaction
Authors: CHARNY ISRAEL W.
Published: August 2004

Many experienced marital therapists will acknowledge that it is difficult for them to really understand the dynamics of a couple's interaction and to plan the direction of couple therapy. This article presents a new tool, a Profile of Marital Functioning and Interaction, for developing a broad, many‐faceted, but still concise picture of a couple's strengths and weaknesses. The profile is based on an existential/dialectal model for analyzing marital functioning and interaction. It is intended to assist the therapist in selecting a systematic focus in marital therapy.
The Impact of Structural Family Therapy Training on Conceptual and Executive Therapy Skills
Authors: ZAKEN‐GREENBERG FLORA , NEIMEYER GREG J.
Published: August 2004

The importance of empirical evaluations of family therapy training is gaining increased recognition. This study reports the results of a controlled assessment of a training seminar in structural family therapy. Changes in the conceptual and executive skills of 44 therapy trainees (22 family trainees and 22 controls) were assessed over a 16‐week period using repertory grid and videotaped therapy simulation techniques. Results indicated significant conceptual gains in family therapy trainees, but only among those with little previous exposure to family training. Differences in the overall number as well as the type of interventions were also noted. Results generally supported the predicted impact of therapy training, but left unanswered questions regarding the unique impact of family therapy training over individual training. These qualifications are discussed and directions for future work are highlighted.
International Family Therapy: A View from Kyoto, Japan
Authors: COLMAN CATHY
Published: August 2004

“International family therapy” is an emergent field within (or overarching) the field of family therapy. At this stage, it can be described as the collecting and sharing of experiences by family therapists from different countries. Recent publications (7) gather information principally from Western cultures in which systemic family therapy has grown over the past thirty years. Japan is of particular interest to Western practitioners because it is a highly successful, post‐industrial culture that differs markedly from the West. Familiar family therapy interventions often work for unfamiliar reasons, and different goals are often needed in order to respond to apparently similar family problems. An expanded sense of choice around strategies for family life and family therapy that such diversity implies is the primary contribution that this maturing, international family therapy movement can make to family therapy.
Communication Deviances: A Comparison Between Parents of Learning‐Disabled and Normally Achieving Students
Authors: DITTON PATRICIA , GREEN ROBERT JAY , SINGER MARGARET THALER
Published: August 2004

This study explored the relationship between parents' communication deviances and children's placement in a learning disability class. Participants were the parents of 30 learning‐disabled students and 30 average students attending junior high school. Samples of communication were taken from parents' participation in an experimental task. Using a “blind” sorting procedure, raters were able to identify 87% of the learning‐disabled students' parents by their high communication deviance scores and 77% of the average students' parents by their low communication deviance scores on the experimental communication task (p ≤ .0001). Implications for future research on the etiology and remediation of learning disabilities are discussed.
Minuchin's Psychosomatic Family Model Revised: A Concept‐Validation Study Using a Multitrait‐Multimethod Approach
Authors: KOG ELLY , VERTOMMEN HANS , VANDEREYCKEN WALTER
Published: August 2004

The convergent and discriminant validity of three operationalizations of the psychosomatic family features — enmeshment, rigidity, overprotectiveness, and lack of conflict resolution, as described by Minuchin and colleagues — are tested in families that include patients with eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa and bulimia. We redefined the family features as dimensions and measured them with two behavioral methods (direct observation and behavioral product) and a self‐report method. The two behavioral methods showed convergent as well as discriminant validity for the intensity of intrafamilial boundaries, the degree of the family's adaptability, and the family's way of handling conflicts. The self‐report method showed only convergent validity for the latter dimension and discriminant validity for none of them. Besides intra‐familial conflict, the self‐report method seemed to measure other constructs. A factor analysis of the family questionnaire indeed yielded three more evaluative constructs: conflict, cohesion, and disorganization. We interpreted these findings according to two usually interwoven mechanisms: the different research context (insider/outsider evaluation) in self‐report and behavioral observation, and the different level of specification (micro/global evaluation) of certain operationalizations. We draw some conclusions about the psychosomatic family model and discuss the clinical implications of our findings.
Relational Ethics in the Novels of Charles Williams
Authors: VANDE KEMP HENDRIKA
Published: August 2004

In the novels of Charles Williams, characters are faced with the mundane but profound choice between “charity and selfishness,” the City and Infamy. Williams' “way of exchange” and “doctrine of substitution” have direct parallels in contextual family therapy. In Descent Into Hell, he explores the long‐term effects of legacy and the balancing of the relational ledger through the process of “substituted” love (25). In All Hallows' Eve (20), the focus is on forgiveness and the opportunity to correct relational mistakes while one is in a purgatorial state. Both novels include parallel processes of relational stagnation/disjunction and rejunction, illustrating the fact that our simple, everyday choices have ultimate significance.
Assessing Parent‐Child Relationships: A Report of Normative Scores and Revalidation of Two Clinical Scales
Authors: SAUNDERS BENJAMIN E. , SCHUCHTS ROBERT A.
Published: August 2004

Normative score performances on the Child's Attitude toward Mother and Child's Attitude toward Father scales by several adolescent subpopulations important to family therapists and researchers are reported for use in clinical assessment and future research. The instruments were administered to a representative sample of 2,419 Florida adolescents, and subpopulations were constructed based upon parental structure and sex. A previous study investigating psychometric properties of the two instruments was partially replicated. Results indicated that both scales are reliable and valid measures of the magnitude of problems in parent‐child relationships from the child's point of view. The scales are recommended for both clinical and research applications.
The Reflecting Team: Dialogue and Meta‐Dialogue in Clinical Work
Authors: ANDERSEN TOM
Published: August 2004

A “stuck” system, that is, a family with a problem, needs new ideas in order to broaden its perspectives and its contextual premises. In this approach, a team behind a one‐way screen watches and listens to an interviewer's conversation with the family members. The interviewer, with the permission of the family, then asks the team members about their perceptions of what went on in the interview. The family and the interviewer watch and listen to the team discussion. The interviewer then asks the family to comment on what they have heard. This may happen once or several times during an interview. In this article, we will first describe the way we interview the family because the interview is the source from which the reflections flow. We will then describe and exemplify the reflecting team's manner of working and give some guidelines because the process of observation has a tendency to magnify every utterance. Two case examples will be used as illustrations.
Generation and Gender: Normative and Covert Hierarchies
Authors: GOLDNER VIRGINIA
Published: August 2004

This essay argues that gender is an irreducible category of clinical observation and theorizing, as crucial to the family therapy paradigm as the concept of “generation.” Gender, therefore, is not a secondary, mediating variable like race, class, or ethnicity, but, rather, a fundamental, organizing principle of all family systems. The author analyzes the history and politics of family therapy in order to explicate how gender, as a co‐equal concept, was erased as a universal principle of family organization, leaving only generation. The theoretical and clinical implications of situating gender at the center of family therapy are then discussed.
Commentary: comparing the beavers and circumplex models of family functioning
Authors: Hampson Robert B. , Beavers Robert W. , Hulgus Yosaf F.
Published: August 2004

As the cool stream gushed over one hand, she [Annie] spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that WATER meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand…. I left the well‐house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.
Juvenile Drug Addiction: A Typology of Heroin Addicts and Their Families
Authors: Cancrini Luigi , Cingolani Sergio , Compagnoni Franca , Costantini Daniela , Mazzoni Silvia
Published: August 2004

In this article the authors propose: 1) a typology of drug addiction cases consisting of four main classes: A. traumatic drug addiction, B. drug addiction from actual neuroses, C. transitional drug addiction, and D. sociopathic drug addiction; 2) a clinical study (with 18 months of follow‐up data) involving 131 heroin addicts1 mostly treated with structural or counter‐paradoxical family therapy in the same psychotherapy center and in the same year; and 3) some preliminary conclusions emerging from an examination of the four‐class typology with respect to the effectiveness of family therapy interventions. If, for example, structural family therapy techniques seem more suitable in type‐B cases (similar to cases described by Haley in his Leaving Home), the counterparadoxical techniques are likely to be more effective in type‐C cases (similar to the anorectics described by Selvini‐Palazoli).
The Transition to Parenthood: III. Incorporation of the Child into the Family
Authors: LEWIS JERRY M. , OWEN MARGARET TRESCH , COX MARTHA J.
Published: August 2004

The major focus of this article is the relationship of the parents' marital relationship structure to the incorporation of the child into the family. Our central hypothesis is that couples who have evolved more competent marital structures prenatally are more likely to incorporate the child successfully into the family.
Return of the Question “Why”: Advantages of Exploring Pre‐existing Explanations
Authors: FURMAN BEN , AHOLA TAPANI
Published: August 2004

We suggest that there are many advantages in thoroughly exploring the causal explanations given by clients or members of their social network to account for their problems. Specific interviewing techniques are presented to uncover clients' causal explanations or their impressions about the causal explanations of others. Various advantages of exploring these explanations are discussed. They include improved cooperation, development of “systemic empathy,” detachment from the explanations of other professionals, recognition and avoidance of coalitions, loosening of firmly held explanations, dilution of noxious explanations, generation of new and positive explanations, shifting of focus from explanations toward solutions, and taking a bird's‐eye view or meta position about such explanations. We conclude that acceptance and appreciation of the human tendency to believe in causal explanations is a fruitful way to enhance interaction between clinicians and clients.
Joint Custody: Research, Theory, and Policy
Authors: COLLER DAVID R.
Published: August 2004

A majority of states have now enacted legislation addressing the issue of joint custody of children after divorce. This article examines current research on the subject, explores its implications for family theory, and attempts to draw some empirically based conclusions regarding policy. The literature would seem to support a structuralist view of the family and to undermine normative theories of the family life cycle. The author concludes that policy should not be aimed at developing a presumption of joint legal custody alone, but, rather, of joint physical custody with specified limitations.
Spatiality of the Family's Inner Structure: Choice of Seat in Family Therapy
Authors: BLINNIKKA LEENA‐MARIA , SEITAMAA MARKKU
Published: August 2004

Many family therapists have observed that the family's choice of seat in the family therapy session provides information concerning the inner structure of the family. The purpose of this study was to study certain aspects of this observation. The selection of seats in family therapy sessions and the mutual distances between family members were investigated for 13 families. The inner structure of the family is described in terms of the existence of problematic relationships and the distribution and quality of power as assessed by the family therapists. The family members' selection of seats in the family therapy session was compared to the sitting order at meals, watching TV at home, and family drawings. It was found that the distance between the father and the patient (a son or daughter) and the location of the father and the mother in relation to each other in the family therapy are more related to the inner structure of the family than to situational factors.
The Georgia Family Q‐Sort: An Observational Measure of Family Functioning
Authors: WAMPLER KAREN SMITH , HALVERSON CHARLES F. , MOORE JOHN J. , WALTERS LYNDA HENLEY
Published: August 2004

The development of a new observational measure of family functioning using a Q‐sort methodology is described. The Q‐sort is 5one way of obtaining observer measures of family that complements both microcoding and global ratings of family processes. Evidence for construct validity is presented along with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the Q‐sort approach to family observation.
Hypothesizing and Evidence‐Gathering: The Nexus of Understanding
Authors: SADLER JOHN Z. , HULGUS YOSAF F.
Published: August 2004

Prior discussion of hypothesizing as a session “guideline” has not fully clarified the derivation of hypotheses. Reviewing relevant philosophy of science literature, the authors develop the notions of evidence and evidence‐gathering in systemic family therapy. The authors claim evidence‐gathering and hypothesizing are interdependent, reciprocal elements of scientific understanding. The structure of evidence is described along with practical and qualitative rules for collecting and using evidence. This model is applied to a case example illustrating the logic of clinical process. Implications are discussed for family therapy training and supervision.
Defining a Family Heritage and a New Relationship Identity: Two Central Tasks in the Making of a Marriage
Authors: WAMBOLDT FREDERICK S. , REISS DAVID
Published: August 2004

The roles of origin family environmental characteristics and couple consensus‐building process within the development of marital relationships were examined prospectively in 16 premarital couples. Three important findings emerged. First, significant correlations were found between dimensions of origin family environment and the reported level of satisfaction within the couple's current relationship. Second, measures of the couple's ability to reach consensus concerning important interpersonal relationships appeared to be important mediators of the association between origin family environment and current relationship satisfaction. Third, important gender differences emerged that replicate and extend prior findings that portray women in the role of “relationship specialist” within their marriages. As a group, these findings were best explained by a developmental model of early marriage that envisions the young couple as facing two entwined tasks: to define both their family heritage and their new relationship identity. Overall, the importance of examining family‐of‐origin characteristics and consensus‐building process as critical determinants of the fate of intimate relationships received strong support. The gender differences found in the literature reviewed, as well as the results of this study, have largely been overlooked by the theory and practice of family therapy. Efforts on both the research and theory construction fronts are needed to increase our understanding of the mechanisms whereby prior family experience is brought forward into current intimate relationships.
Expressed Emotion and Reciprocal Affective Relationships in Families of Disturbed Adolescents
Authors: COOK WILLIAM L. , STRACHAN ANGUS M. , GOLDSTEIN MICHAEL J. , MIKLOWITZ DAVID J.
Published: August 2004

Relatives expressed emotion (EE) is a known risk factor for relapse among recovering psychiatric patients. Recent research has focused on the behavioral correlates of EE, seeking better understanding of the family processes associated with this important variable. The present study used sequence analysis to explore interactions of high‐EE and low‐EE parent‐child dyads in a sample of disturbed adolescents. High‐EE mother‐child interactions were characterized by bidirectional influence, and, in contrast to adolescents in low‐EE dyads, adolescents in high‐EE dyads had an oppositional style of responding. In Low‐EE mother‐child interactions, the adolescents showed more temporal consistency (stability) of affect than their high‐EE counterparts. Overall, the results suggest that high‐EE mother‐child dyads constitute more tightly joined emotional systems than low‐EE dyads. Consequently, interventions designed to reduce this connectedness might also reduce the risk of adolescent psychiatric problems.
The “Psychosomatic Family” Model: An Empirical and Theoretical Analysis
Authors: WOOD BEATRICE , WATKINS JOHN B. , BOYLE JOHN T. , NOGUEIRA JOSE , ZlMAND ELANA , CARROLL LISA
Published: August 2004

Evolution of the Family Systems Paradigm has been constrained by the dichotomy between theory building and empirical research. This article integrates these two domains by presenting a theoretical analysis of the “psychosomatic family” model as it informs and is informed by an empirical research project. Forty families of children with Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and functional recurrent abdominal pain syndrome (RAP) were rated during standard, videotaped family interaction tasks, lunch, and interview. Laboratory scores of disease activity were associated with triangulation, marital dysfunction, and total “psychosomatic family” scores. Disease activity was not significantly correlated with enmeshment, overprotection, rigidity, conflict avoidance, or poor conflict resolution. Thus, the marital/triangulation and enmeshment/ overprotection/conflict clusters may be subcomplexes of the “psychosomatic family” complex. CD, UC, and RAP groups differed in the relations among particular family patterns and disease activity. A heuristic family‐psycho‐somatic model is presented to facilitate future research.
Attachment and the Emotional Unit
Authors: DONLEY MARGARET G.
Published: July 2004

Until recently, the mother‐child relationship was assumed to be the primary relationship affecting the outcome of an individual. This resulted in the mother‐child dyad being seen and studied as separate from the family system in which it is embedded. This article asserts that, in order to understand this dyad adequately, one must understand “how” the family functions as an emotional unit that is guided by processes found in evolution and in relationships between living things. It goes beyond describing the family as a system of influence and seeks to account for the universal processes that occur in natural systems. It posits that the triangle is the basic building block of the emotional unit, and proposes a new theoretical dimension for understanding how attachment extends beyond dyads (such as parent‐child) to include the emotional unit as a whole. Through triangles, the parent‐child relationship is continually influenced by relationship forces operating within the system as a whole.
The California Family Health Project: VII. Summary and Integration of Findings
Authors: FISHER LAWRENCE , RANSOM DONALD C. , TERRY HOWARD E.
Published: July 2004

In a series of reports, we have observed the relationships between four domains of family life (World View, Emotion Management, Structure/Organization, Problem Solving), and the health of husbands and wives in a community‐based sample of 225 families. In this final article of the series, we provide an overview and summary of the results, by gender, including the structure and patterning of variables both within each family domain and among all four family domains analyzed together. In addition, we review the associations between each family domain and adult health (unidomain analyses), and among all four family domains taken together and adult health (multidomain analyses). Prominent differences in family and health relationships based on gender are described from the perspective of socially and culturally supported sex‐role expectations and behavior. The results support the use of a multidimensional family assessment framework in health research that can lead to the further development of empirically based models of family process.
Divorce in the Kibbutz: Lessons To Be Drawn
Authors: KAFFMAN MORDECAI
Published: July 2004

The kibbutz in Israel constitutes one of the few places in Western culture where one is able to examine the essence of an “authentic emotional divorce” because of the minor role of factors that are extraneous to the disruption of the emotional marital attachment itself. This is the case because the kibbutz is a society that is based and functions upon principles that neutralize to a large extent the legal, economic, and co‐parenting obstacles to a constructive divorce. Although there are significant differences in the severity of the postdivorce conflict, the divorce crisis is rather similar in kibbutz and non‐kibbutz settings regarding both the quality of the emotional responses and the nature of the influencing factors — thus pointing to the ubiquitousness of the human condition.
FACES III and the Kvebaek Family Sculpture Technique as Measures of Cohesion and Closeness
Authors: VANDVIK INGER HELENE , ECKBLAD GUDRUN FLEISCHER
Published: July 2004

In a longitudinal study of psychosocial factors in children with recent onset of rheumatic disease (N = 72), it was hypothesized that FACES III cohesion sum scores would be correlated with family closeness as measured by the Kvebaek Family Sculpture Technique (KFST). A second aim was to examine how these instruments were associated with semi‐structured interview assessments of child and family psychosocial function, and whether these associations were linear or curvilinear. FACES III cohesion sum scores and KFST family mean interpersonal distance were not correlated, whereas the cohesion sum scores were related to the mother‐father distance on the KFST. Where associations with child and family psychosocial function were found, they were linear. The results support the usefulness of a distinction between cohesion as a family or group characteristic and dyadic closeness, especially between the parent figures. The need for further conceptual clarification and more thorough empirical validation procedures in this area is emphasized.
Conceptualizing Social Support in Families of Children with Special Health Needs
Authors: KRAHN GLORIA L.
Published: July 2004

The concept of social support is used increasingly to understand families and their functioning. While conceptualization of the support process is regrettably absent for much research on families, earlier models developed for examining social support of individuals can enlighten research on families. The history of the social support concept is presented along with an overview of current typologies of social support and models of how it impacts physical and mental health. Research on the social support of families with children with special needs is reviewed relative to these issues. Greater recognition of a comprehensive model of support is advocated. Recommendations are made for longitudinal research on temporal patterns of utilization and satisfaction with support, and for consideration of cultural contexts in interpreting social supports.
DSM‐IV and Describing Problems in Family Therapy
Authors: STRONG TOM
Published: July 2004

The concept of disorder always involves a value judgment (Spitzer, 1981, p. 214).
A Case of Functional Urinary Retention: The Use of Family Play Therapy
Authors: STODDARD FREDERICK R. , WILBERGER MICHAEL S. , OLAFSON ERNA
Published: July 2004

This case presents a technique for doing family therapy in families with young children. In family play therapy, the entire family plays together, allowing full participation of even the youngest children in the therapeutic process. Standard family therapy interventions in the latter part of each session make use of family interaction patterns and unconscious processes revealed during the earlier play. In the case presented here, the technique was successfully applied to a family with a 3‐year‐old son who had functional urinary retention. This case also provided an opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration between the separate Child and Family Services at a major teaching hospital.
How Problems Evolve and Dissolve: Integrating Narrative and Strategic Concepts
Authors: ERON JOSEPH B. , LUND THOMAS W.
Published: July 2004

This article presents an approach to therapy that links narrative and strategic concepts. The term “strategic” is used not in the prescriptive, impositional sense that has come to be associated with the method, but in terms of having a clear therapeutic direction in promoting change. The authors outline an approach to therapy that expands upon the fundamental principles of the MRI (Mental Research Institute) Brief Therapy model, elaborating more upon its constructivist premises than its prescriptive practices. They propose that by mapping how ordinary life events affect a person's preferred view, the therapist can locate the key narrative elements that shape the course of the problem and direct its solution. The authors suggest a framework for how problems evolve and dissolve. When new events are construed as contradicting family members' preferred narrative accounts, problems evolve. Problems dissolve when family members see the event, and the ideas and actions of others, as consonant with their preferred ways of being and acting.
Dropping Out of Marriage and Family Therapy: A Critical Review of Research
Authors: BISCHOFF RICHARD J. , SPRENKLE DOUGLAS H.
Published: July 2004

The lack of attention given to research on the premature termination by clients in marriage and family therapy is evident in research reviews of the dropout phenomenon in psychotherapy. This article is an attempt to fill that void. The research literature on dropping out of family therapy is reviewed and organized. Studies in this area tend to focus on four kinds of variables: client characteristics, therapist characteristics, therapy process variables, and interventions. Stable findings in each of these areas are pointed out. Both limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.
The Misuse and Use of Science in Family Therapy
Authors: NEWMARK MARGARET , BEELS CHRISTIAN
Published: July 2004

The wish to adopt ideas and metaphors from science can have a constricting effect on thinking about family therapy theory and practice. We describe three examples from the recent literature. The two problems describe: (a) borrowing the prestige and certainty of scientific ideas and metaphors and using them as cultural representations of reality, and (b) embracing certain philosophically comprehensive systems of thought. We then recommend some appropriate borrowing from the natural history tradition of science, and give some examples of ways in which that tradition has widened rather than narrowed the range of ideas that are used in family therapy.
Time and Rhythm in Couples
Authors: FRAENKEL PETER
Published: July 2004

In this article, a theory is offered on the role of time in couple functioning and distress. The theory argues that no single set of temporal patterns is associated with couple distress or satisfaction. Rather, it advocates attention to the individual differences between couples in their understanding of the meaning of the temporal patterns in their relationship. The couple's narrative about the evolution and maintenance of these temporal patterns can be understood as revealing much about partners' experiences of the relationship in terms of the concepts of closeness and power. Interventions on the temporal dimension may be useful when the couple presents with an explicit problem in temporal patterns; when a particular temporal pattern prevents the couple from addressing other issues; and when the therapist wishes to reframe a problem in a manner that lowers conflict intensity. Along with the theory, a preliminary taxonomy of time problems in couples is presented as a guide to assessment. This is followed by clinical vignettes to illustrate how the theory can be used in couple therapy.
Toward an Organizational‐Relational Model of Open Adoption
Authors: SILVERSTEIN DEBORAH R. , DEMICK JACK
Published: July 2004

Clinicians and social scientists have attempted to demonstrate the advisability of open versus closed adoption (communication and/or contact vs. no communication and/or contact between biological and adoptive parents) from a variety of theoretical perspectives. In our article, we seek a conceptual framework that will (a) elaborate how such divergent conclusions about openness versus confidentiality have heretofore been drawn, and (b) provide a comprehensive analysis of the behavior and experiences of all members of the adoption triad (birthparents, adoptive parents, adoptees). Employing structural aspects of organismic‐developmental theory (Werner, 1957) and dynamic aspects of self‐in‐relation theory (Miller, 1976), we propose an organizational‐relational approach to open adoption. Preliminary research findings are also provided.
Asthma, Power, and the Therapeutic Conversation
Authors: TOWNS ALISON
Published: July 2004

Previous research has indicated that family therapy may be of use when a child has chronic, uncontrolled asthma. The significant power relations were considered to be those between the child and the parents. In this article, I examine the wider contextual relations that the family encounters when asthma is a problem, and suggest that these relations are unable to be understood without more thoroughly theorizing power. Because of power relations, the meanings of therapeutic encounters for families and health care professionals may not be consensual. The effect may be to hamper adequate asthma management. I suggest that when Foucault's work is examined alongside that of Hoffman, and Anderson and Goolishian, then the processes that distort these understandings are more readily understood. These ideas are illustrated with examples from a rsearch project.
The Geometry of the Eternal Triangle
Authors: PAM ALVIN , PEARSON JUDITH
Published: July 2004

Jealousy is often imputed to psychopathology in the protagonist. Psychodynamically, it can be attributed to an ego‐deficiency, chronic insecurity, or a deflected libidinal drive. We propose that, when a primary love relationship is threatened, jealousy is best understood from a systems perspective. Three individuals create the experience of jealousy in one of them, which results in a pathogenic “eternal triangle” composed of: the jealous partner who seeks to woo and/or punish an errant mate; the architect of the triangle who takes a lover to supplement the marriage or supplant the mate; and a third person who intrudes across the boundaries of the couple. Therapists must be aware of the role of each agent in order to deal with the volatile, yet highly enduring configuration of the triangle.
Levels of Meaning in Family Stress Theory
Authors: PATTERSON JOAN M. , GARWICK ANN W.
Published: July 2004

Major stressful life events, particularly those that have chronic hardships, create a crisis for families that often leads to reorganization in the family's style of functioning. A major factor in this reorganization is the meaning the family gives to the stressful event. Often the meaning extends beyond the event itself and leads to a changed view of the family system and even to a changed view of the world. Building on other family stress models, we elaborate the family's definition of the stressor into three levels of family meanings: (1) situational meanings, (2) family identity, and (3) family world view. Examples from clinical work and studies of families adapting to chronic illness are used to illustrate the relationship between these three levels of meaning, particularly as they change in response to crisis. Implications for clinical and empirical work are discussed.
Family Perceptions of Living with Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: GARWICK ANN WILLIAMS , DETZNER DANIEL , BOSS PAULINE
Published: July 2004

The purpose of this study was to identify the major themes that 38 multigenerational families emphasized in their conversations about living with Alzheimer's disease. Interviews were conducted with families that were providing home care in the early stages of the disease. Family perceptions were analyzed with the aid of a computer content analysis program. Families emphasized four themes: (a) the awareness that something was “wrong”; (b) the uncertain nature of the diagnosis; (c) excluding a family member; and (d) the ambiguous nature of family life with Alzheimer's disease.
Integrating Self and System: An Empty Intersection?
Authors: Rosenbaum Robert , Dyckman John
Published: July 2004

Synthesizing individual and family therapies can founder if the underlying epistemological assumptions concerning “what is self” are not taken into account. Most individual therapies assume self “really” exists as a relatively stable internal entity, the repository of residues of experience where traits, memories, et cetera are organized via internal schemas. Such a view tends to treat self as a thing, and implies that psychological problems are the result of internal deficits or conflicts; this can lead to difficulties in therapy. In contrast, ecosystemic views employ constructivist and contextualist approaches that are more fluid. However, by basing autopoetic self‐organization in language, ecosystemic epistemology still separates subject from object. Adopting a perspective in which self has no fixed, distinguishing characteristics can resolve many difficulties and create a dimensionless point where self and system, individual and family, therapist and client can meet without hindrance.
Association of Interpersonal Cognitive Complexity with Communication Skill in Marriage: Moderating Effects of Marital Distress
Authors: DENTON WAYNE H. , BURLESON BRANT R. , SPRENKLE DOUGLAS H.
Published: July 2004

Little research has examined the influence of social cognition on communicative behaviors that spouses exhibit in conversational interactions. The present study examined the associations between interpersonal cognitive complexity and three marital communication skills: communication effectiveness (generating messages that have the desired outcome), predictive accuracy (anticipating accurately the effects of a message on a receiver), and perceptual accuracy (correctly inferring the intent of a message source). The study also evaluated whether marital distress moderated associations between cognitive complexity and communication skills. Participants (60 couples) discussed a problem from their own marriage and a vignette from the Inventory of Marital Conflicts (Olson & Ryder, 1970) using the communication box. Cognitive complexity was moderately associated with perceptual accuracy, weakly associated with communication effectiveness, and not associated with predictive accuracy. Subsidiary analyses revealed that associations between cognitive complexity and the communication skills were generally stronger in the sub‐sample of distressed couples than in the subsample of nondistressed couples.
An Infertility Primer for Family Therapists: II. Working with Couples Who Struggle with Infertility
Authors: Meyers Mimi , WEINSHEL MARGOT , SCHARF CONSTANCE , KEZUR DAVID , DIAMOND RONNY , RAIT DOUGLAS S.
Published: July 2004

The distress of infertility and its medical treatments are profound, and the effects reverberate in each partner, the couple dyad, and the couple's relationships with family, friends, and medical systems. Yet family therapists, like others in our society, are often uninformed or misinformed about the experience of infertility. While the legacies of infertility may be painful and enduring, they often remain unspoken, and hence may be overlooked in standard interviews. This article describes the experiences of couples struggling with infertility, most of whom have sought medical intervention, and it provides treatment interventions for guiding couples through this difficult and often uncharted terrain. Case vignettes derived from 2 years of this clinical research study are included.