Family Therapy : A Systemic Integration

by Becvar, Dorothy Stroh; Becvar, Raphael J.

• ISBN13: 9780205285310
• ISBN10: 0205285317
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

Family Therapy provides a comprehensive survey of the field of marriage and family therapy, with a focus on the systems theoretical perspective. This systemic-cybernetic framework provides a theoretical map that permits an understanding of people in the context of their environment. The text is a survey of the field of family therapy that includes current developments, evolving models, and ongoing debates. Various family and developmental theories are integrated into a dynamic process model for viewing and understanding family interactions and relationships, including psychodynamic, experiential, structural, communications, strategic, and behavioral approaches. Therapeutic modalities include individual, couple, group family, couples group, multiple family, networking, and symptom-focused. This revision includes an up-to-date discussion of postmodernism in Chapter 4; an expanded discussion of family processes, development, and context in Chapter 6; questions and reflections from a second-order cybernetics/ postmodernist perspective in Chapters 7-13; and the most recent research findings and discussions in Chapter 15. An Instructor's Manual/Test Bank provides sample examinations as well as student exercises and additional teaching resources.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
The Systemic Framework	p. 1
Two Different Worldviews	p. 3
The Framework of Individual Psychology	p. 3
The Framework of Systemic Family Therapy	p. 8
Basic Concepts of Systems Theory and Cybernetics	p. 10
Family Therapy or Relationship Therapy?	p. 12
Summary	p. 13
The Historical Perspective	p. 14
Planting the Seeds: The 1940s	p. 15
Cybernetics	p. 15
Development of Interdisciplinary Approaches	p. 16
Gregory Bateson	p. 17
Putting Down Roots: The 1950s	p. 19
Bateson (Continued)	p. 19
The Double-Bind Hypothesis	p. 20
Nathan Ackerman	p. 22
Murray Bowen	p. 24
Carl Whitaker	p. 24
Theodore Lidz	p. 25
Lyman Wynne	p. 27
Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy	p. 28
John Elderkin Bell	p. 29
Christian F. Midelfort	p. 29
Overview of the 1950s	p. 30
The Plant Begins to Bud: The 1960s	p. 31
Paradigm Shift	p. 31
MRI	p. 33
Salvador Minuchin	p. 34
Other Developments	p. 35
Blossom Time: The 1970s	p. 35
Psychodynamic Approaches	p. 35
Natural Systems Theory	p. 36
Experiential Approaches	p. 36
Structural Approaches	p. 37
Strategic Approaches	p. 38
Communication Approaches	p. 39
Behavioral Approaches	p. 40
Gregory Bateson	p. 40
Connecting and Integrating: The 1980s	p. 41
Other Voices	p. 41
The Limits of History	p. 46
Controversy, Conflict, and Beyond: The 1990s	p. 47
The Feminist Critique	p. 47
Family Therapy and Family Medicine	p. 50
Integration and Metaframeworks	p. 51
Managed Care	p. 52
The Twenty-First Century: Future Considerations and Concerns	p. 52
Summary	p. 53
The Paradigmatic Shift of Systems Theory	p. 64
A Cybernetic Epistemology	p. 64
Recursion	p. 65
Feedback	p. 66
Morphostasis/Morphogenesis	p. 68
Rules and Boundaries	p. 69
Openness and Closedness	p. 70
Entropy/Negentropy	p. 71
Equifinality/Equipotentiality	p. 71
Communication and Information Processing	p. 72
Relationship and Wholeness	p. 75
Goals and Purposes	p. 77
Cybernetics of Cybernetics	p. 78
Wholeness and Self-Reference	p. 79
Openness and Closedness	p. 79
Autopoiesis	p. 80
Structural Determinism	p. 81
Structural Coupling and Nonpurposeful Drift	p. 82
Epistemology of Participation	p. 83
Reality as a Multiverse	p. 84
Summary	p. 85
Postmodernism and Family Therapy	p. 88
Postmodernism in Historical Perspective	p. 90
Constructivism and Social Constructionism	p. 91
Deconstruction and the Role of Language	p. 92
The Role of the Individual	p. 94
The Debates	p. 95
First-Order versus Second-Order Therapy	p. 95
Postmodernism and Cybernetics	p. 97
Self-Referential Inconsistencies and Other Challenges	p. 98
The Role of the Family	p. 102
Summary	p. 102
The Family: Process, Development, and Context	p. 104
Process Dimensions	p. 105
Developmental Frameworks	p. 110
Contextual Issues	p. 116
Structural Variations	p. 116
Cultural Variations	p. 120
Other Diversity Issues	p. 122
Ecological Considerations	p. 123
Summary	p. 125
The Practice of Family Therapy	p. 127
Psychodynamic Approaches	p. 131
Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy	p. 132
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 133
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 136
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 136
Systemic Consistency	p. 138
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 139
Object Relations Family Therapy	p. 139
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 140
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 142
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 142
Systemic Consistency	p. 143
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 144
Natural Systems Theory	p. 145
Murray Bowen	p. 145
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 146
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 150
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 151
Systemic Consistency	p. 156
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 156
Experiential Approaches	p. 158
Carl Whitaker	p. 159
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 160
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 161
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 162
Systemic Consistency	p. 164
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 165
Walter Kempler	p. 166
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 167
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 169
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 170
Systemic Consistency	p. 171
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 172
The Structural Approach	p. 173
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 174
Structure	p. 174
Subsystems	p. 175
Boundaries	p. 177
The Family over Time	p. 180
Structural Maps of the Family	p. 180
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 183
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 185
Goals of Structural Therapy	p. 186
The Process of Change	p. 187
Systemic Consistency	p. 191
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 192
Communication Approaches	p. 193
Early Researchers	p. 194
Don D. Jackson	p. 194
John H. Weakland	p. 195
Paul Watzlawick	p. 196
Review of Early Research	p. 198
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 198
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 198
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 199
Systemic Consistency	p. 199
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 200
Virginia Satir	p. 200
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 201
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 202
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 203
Systemic Consistency	p. 205
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 205
Strategic Approaches and the Milan Influence	p. 206
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 208
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 213
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 214
Three Examples	p. 217
Jay Haley	p. 217
Cloe Madanes	p. 222
Milan Systemic/Strategic Therapy	p. 223
Systemic Consistency	p. 231
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 231
Behavioral/Cognitive Approaches	p. 233
Basic Concepts/Theoretical Constructs	p. 237
Definitions	p. 237
Theory of Health/Normalcy	p. 239
Therapeutic Strategies/Interventions	p. 240
Traditional Behavioral Strategies/Interventions	p. 240
Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies/Interventions	p. 241
Four Examples	p. 242
Behavioral Parent Training	p. 243
Behavioral Marital Therapy	p. 246
Functional Family Therapy	p. 251
Conjoint Sex Therapy	p. 251
Systemic Consistency	p. 254
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 255
Postmodern Approaches	p. 256
The Reflecting Team: Tom Andersen	p. 257
Solution-Oriented Therapy: William O'Hanlon	p. 260
Solution-Focused Therapy: Steve de Shazer	p. 262
Externalization and Reauthoring Lives and Relationships: Michael White and David Epston	p. 267
Therapeutic Conversations: Harlene Anderson and Harry Goolishian	p. 271
Systemic Consistency	p. 272
Questions and Reflections from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 274
The Systemic Practitioner	p. 275
Family Assessment	p. 277
History	p. 277
Family Assessment and Classification--General Models	p. 280
Family Assessment and Classification--Scientific Approaches	p. 282
Family Assessment and Classification--Some Concerns	p. 288
Systemic Analysis/Multidimensional Assessment	p. 289
Therapeutic Intervention and Strategies	p. 293
A Theory of Change	p. 293
Reframing	p. 297
Paradoxical Interventions	p. 298
Problem Formation/Resolution	p. 298
Stochastic Processes	p. 299
Perturber versus Change Agent	p. 299
Meaningful Noise	p. 300
Language and Worldviews	p. 300
Stability and Change	p. 301
Information and Perturbation	p. 302
The Theory of Change, Meaningful Noise, and the Postmodernist Perspective	p. 303
Ethical Issues	p. 304
AAMFT Code of Ethics	p. 305
Ethics and Cybernetics of Cybernetics	p. 314
Training and Supervision	p. 319
Teaching and Learning the Systemic/Cybernetic Perspective	p. 319
Supervision: Modalities, Myths, and Realities	p. 321
Legal and Ethical Issues in Training and Supervision	p. 322
Supervision from a Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodern Perspective	p. 326
Research in Family Therapy	p. 330
Family Therapy Research in the Logical Positivist Tradition	p. 330
From Efficacy Research to Progress Research	p. 334
A Second-Order Cybernetics/Postmodernist Consideration of Quantitative and Qualitative Research	p. 336
A Systems View of Research	p. 339
The New Physics	p. 342
Implications for the Social Sciences	p. 344
Ramifications of a Cybernetic Perspective	p. 346
Epistemological Challenges: Thinking about Our Thinking	p. 351
Mind and Nature/Stories	p. 355
Conceptual Pathologies	p. 358
Problems Exist "Out There"	p. 358
The Map Is the Territory	p. 360
Defining Differences in Isolation	p. 361
Independence/Autonomy and Unilateral Control	p. 363
You Can Do Just One Thing	p. 363
Control Is Possible	p. 364
We Can Just Observe	p. 366
The Paradox of Being a Systemic Therapist	p. 368
Contemporary Challenges	p. 374
Teaching and Learning the Cybernetic Perspective	p. 376
In Conclusion	p. 379
References	p. 381
Name Index	p. 399
Subject Index	p. 405
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