Implications For Family Therapy Research Articles

Marital Conflict Among Parents: Implications for Family Therapy with Adolescent Conduct Disorder

Conduct disorder is associated with several causative and maintaining factors, with family functioning being an important one. This is especially true in the Indian context, where a lot of the problem behaviors manifested by adolescents with conduct disorders are in the family context. Marital relationship of the parents is a key aspect of family functioning, affecting a number of other dimensions of family functioning, including adolescent adjustment. The paper highlights the role of parents’ marital conflict in the emergence and maintenance of adolescent conduct problems. The importance of family therapy in managing adolescent conduct disorder is discussed through case examples from India.

Family Ties: Constructing Family Time in Low‐Income Families

"Family time" is reflected in the process of building and fortifying family relationships. Whereas such time, free of obligatory work, school, and family maintenance activities, is purchased by many families using discretionary income, we explore how low-income mothers make time for and give meaning to focused engagement and relationship development with their children within time constraints idiosyncratic to being poor and relying on welfare. Longitudinal ethnographic data from 61 low-income African American, European American, and Latina American mothers were analyzed to understand how mothers construct family time during daily activities such as talking, play, and meals. We also identify unique cultural factors that shape family time for low-income families, such as changing temporal orientations, centrality of television time, and emotional burdens due to poverty. Implications for family therapy are also discussed.

The influence of caregiving stressors, social support, and caregiving appraisal on marital functioning among African American wife caregivers.

Using a stress and coping framework, we examined the influence of caregiving stressors, social support, and caregiving appraisal on the marital functioning of 100 African American wife caregivers. Results of separate multivariate analyses revealed received church support, caregiving burden, and caregiving satisfaction significantly predicted wives' marital functioning, when caregivers' background characteristics (age and education), length of caregiving, whether first marriage, and urban versus rural location were controlled. Receiving church support was associated with increased marital functioning. Lower levels of caregiving burden were associated with increased marital functioning. Higher levels of caregiving satisfaction were associated with increased marital functioning. Findings illuminate wives' caregiving and marital experiences, and have implications for family therapy and future research.

Childhood behavioral and emotional disorders.

We reviewed the literature on family treatment for childhood behavioral and emotional disorders and found an increase in the number of studies since 1995; however there was significant variation by disorder and therapy model. There is substantially more research on externalizing disorders (i.e., conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder) then internalizing disorders, depression and anxiety disorders. The data support the conclusion that family-based interventions produce results comparable to individually oriented interventions, and in some cases family-based interventions are superior to individual treatments. To date, cognitive behavioral family therapy and parent management have been the two models studied, almost exclusively. Implications for family therapy and future research are considered.

Deconstructing Differentiation: Self Regulation, Interdependent Relating, and Well-Being in Adulthood

This study examined underlying similarities between the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire (PAFS; Bray, Williamson, & Malone, 1984a) and the Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI; Skowron & Friedlander, 1998). Generalized least-squares factor analysis yielded two related factors, Self Regulation and Interdependent Relating, accounting for 60% of the variance in the solution. Greater Self Regulation—comprised of DSI scales characterized by less emotional reactivity and the ability to take an I position in relationships—and Interdependent Relating—marked by greater personal authority, intergenerational intimacy and less intergenerational fusion on the PAFS and less emotional cutoff on the DSI—predicted well-being among both women and men. Implications for family therapy and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Family functioning in anorexia nervosa: British and Italian mothers' perceptions

This study tested the hypothesis that cultural differences would influence individuals' perceptions of family functioning. Mothers of British and Italian children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa completed the Family Assessment Device (FAD). British mothers perceived their families' communication and role definition as less healthy than did the Italian mothers. In contrast, the Italians perceived their families' behavior control methods as less healthy than did the British mothers. The findings might be explained by differences between British and Italian interpretations of the role of “family,” particularly giving the British emphasis on independence and the Italian emphasis on family life. It is suggested that these culturally divergent attitudes towards family life might have different influences on anorexia nervosa. Finally, implications for family therapy are discussed, taking into account those characteristics that are more relevant for each cultural group.

Fathering, Faith, and Family Therapy

Summary This article presents the major conceptual and clinical ideas on fathering, religion, and counseling developed by David C. Dollahite and his colleagues. The concepts of generative fathering and generative narrative therapy are presented and illustrated with narratives of religious fathers. These ideas address a number of issues believed important to consider in family therapy with fathers-particularly religious fathers. Concepts are illustrated with personal narratives from two samples of Latter-day Saint (Mormon) fathers of children with special needs. Although the narratives are non-clinical, implications for family therapy from these and related theories and stories are suggested. The article emphasizes father strengths, the power of religion to assist fathers in challenging circumstances, and the importance of therapists' sensitivity to spiritual and religious matters.

Revisiting Bordin's Theory on the Therapeutic Alliance: Implications for Family Therapy

Because of the belief that relationships are a major contributor to problems as well as the avenue for bringing about change, the alliance between therapists and clients is important in family therapy. Writings and ideas on the therapeutic alliance from psychoanalytic theory were used by Edward Bordin to develop a working theory in 1979, and later adapted to the field of family therapy. However, the adaptation did not account for many variables unique and important to family therapy. This article describes the therapeutic alliance and the necessity of creating a theory of therapeutic alliance that accounts for family therapy concepts. Future ideas for scholarship are presented.

Variations in Family Composition: Implications for Family Therapy

The American family is truly diverse, with many forms and changes between and among forms common. Each variation in family composition presents its own unique challenges and possesses its own unique possibilities for success, building on its own unique strengths. Each family in trouble expects and demands respectful, patient, and committed assistance from the family therapist. The family therapist must appreciate the uniqueness of an individual family and the features that that family has in common with similar families and with all families. It is the commitment of parental figures to take responsibility for their children and participate actively with them in their development that creates successful family life. The family therapist's acceptance, curiosity, and respect for the family and its members encourages change and enlists strengths. This approach permits the family therapist to participate in meaningful and effective lives for each family.

Attachment and Depression: Implications for Family Therapy

The preceding discussion highlights the use of attachment theory in conceptualizing the interface between normal development and the manifestation of depression from infancy through adolescence. Additional research is needed to delineate better the specific nature of the association between attachment relationships and depression, particularly with regard to factors that mediate and moderate the link. The extant literature informs family-oriented clinical interventions with depressed young people with comorbid attachment problems, with or without a depressed parent. These family interventions are most likely to be effective if they incorporate developmentally informed conceptualizations and techniques and are targeted specifically to the problems of depressed youth and their families. The efficacy of such interventions remains to be determined through the implementation of treatment efficacy and effectiveness studies.

Does Reunion Cure Adoption?

Adoption and reunion experiences were examined in birth‐mothers who were reunited with their adult children following a change in adoption laws. Their feelings surprised, bewildered, and sometimes even shocked them. Whilst they described initial reunion meetings in uniformly glowing terms, they also experienced enormous turmoil. Reunion was expected to be a resolution, but in fact, constituted a major life crisis. The policy of one mandated counselling session prior to reunion is examined in this light The author discusses the wider implications of the legislation in terms of society's acknowledgement of past injustice, and the lost potential for healing. Implications for family therapy are discussed.

Resilience concepts and findings: implications for family therapy

Resilience concepts and findings: implications for family therapy

Resilience concepts and findings: implications for family therapy

Resilience is a term used to describe relative resistance to psychosocial risk experiences. There is abundant evidence that there is enormous variation in children's responses to such experiences but research to determine the processes underlying the variations needs to take account of several crucial methodological issues. The findings emphasize that multiple risk and protective factors are involved; that children vary in their vulnerability to psychosocial stress and adversity as a result of both genetic and environmental influences; that family‐wide experiences tend to impinge on individual children in quite different ways; that the reduction of negative, and increase of positive, chain reactions influences the extent to which the effects of adversity persist over time; that new experiences which open up opportunities can provide beneficial ‘turning‐ point’ effects; that although positive experiences in themselves do not exert much of a protective effect, they can be helpful if they serve to neutralize some risk factors; and that the cognitive and affective processing of experiences is likely to influence whether or not resilience develops. The implications of these findings for family therapy are considered in terms of the need for therapists to look carefully at the ways in which different risk factors interact; to assess and take account of individual differences in susceptibility; to consider the extent to which risk factors impinge on the individual and, in that connection, to note the importance of patterns of social interaction outside as well as inside the family; to appreciate the role of both the peer group and individual characteristics in the development of negative and positive chain reactions; and to pay attention to the ways in which individuals process their experiences.

Children's attributions about family arguments: implications for family therapy.

Children's attributions about the causes of family arguments affect both their interpretations of the meaning of and their adjustment to such events. Children's attributions about family arguments are, therefore, of importance in family therapy, especially for therapists who work from a cognitive or constructivist perspective. In an exploratory study, we examined children's attributions about family arguments in two arenas: marital arguments and parent-child arguments. Ninety-two children, aged 5-12, listened to an audiotaped argument and answered a series of structured questions concerning different attributions about the causes of such arguments. Descriptive analyses of the most and least endorsed attributions provided an overall map of the "stories" children tell about the causes of family arguments, and showed that, in general, they are more likely to endorse multiple, interacting causes than internal, blaming attributions. Additionally, children of all ages made somewhat different attributions concerning mothers vs. fathers in marital arguments. Implications for family therapy and suggestions for future clinical research are discussed.

Reflections on jewishness and its implications for family therapy

Family therapy as a field has increasingly recognized the importance of families' cultural backgrounds in understanding family systems and conducting effective therapy. Although some families' ethnicities fade with assimilation and time, even families who consider themselves marginally Jewish are often deeply influenced by Jewish cultural background. Purely statistical studies of Jewish characteristics are hampered by significant differences in Jewish sample populations (such as Eastern European and Mediterranean Jews) and the inadequacies of current measuring techniques. This article links Jewish cultural traits to specific elements of Jewish history, traditions, and theology; helps familiarize family therapists with the implications of a Jewish cultural background for families entering family therapy; and provides suggestions for treatment interventions.

Complementary alternative medicine : Implications for family therapy

This article considers the fit between family therapy and complementary alternative medicine (CAM). Descriptions of and research results on a variety of CAM practices are provided, as are implications for practice, education, research, and policy. It is concluded that the two fields mesh easily and that clients might be better served if their therapists had knowledge of CAM. At the same time, therapists are cautioned regarding the need for both further study and appropriate regulation of alternative practices.

Marital crisis and therapy in their social context

The objective in this paper is to analyze the macro-social trends regarding divorce in Israel and their implications for family therapy. Four macro-social aspects are discussed: legal aspects, demographic trends, single-parenthood, and remarriage. Family therapy strategy must take into account the particular problems of the different varieties of Israeli families, especially the needs of the children, who have no less a stake in the therapy's success than their parents.

The Longest Shadow A Clinical Commentary On Moshe Lang's Silence: Therapy with Holocaust Survivors and their Families

This commentary addresses one of the issues raised by Moshe Lang's Silence: Therapy with Holocaust Survivors and their Families, namely the paucity of a psychotherapy literature about holocaust survivors and their families. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are discussed, with an emphasis on the implications for family therapy.

Selfobject functions of the family: Implications for family therapy

The application of Self-Psychology theory to family functioning adds to our models of understanding and intervention in family therapy. This article develops a theory of the family as a supraordinate selfobject and explores diverse clinical applications of the theory. The family as a selfobject matrix enhances the self development of the child by the provision of continuity through the maintenance of proximity over time, and by an enhanced quality and quantity of selfobject responsiveness for the individual. This application of Self Psychology theory has wide implications for family therapy with children in foster care, family therapy with elderly couples coping with dementia in one spouse, and family therapy as a component of treatment with suicidal adolescents.

FAMILY CRISIS INTERVENTION BY PHONE: INTERVENTION WITH FAMILIES DURING THE GULF WAR

The purpose of this paper was to describe the ways in which a family therapy agency adjusted to emerging needs of families in Israel during the Gulf War. The therapeutic interventions were done by phone and followed a crisis intervention model. The impact of the special context arising from the war is described first, followed by a description of the problems related and the intervention provided. Finally, implications for family therapy are discussed.