Basic Concepts in Family Therapy

An Introductory Text, Second Edition

Linda Berg Cross

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317789826
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Gain confidence and creativity in your family therapy interventions with new, up-to-date research! Basic Concepts in Family Therapy: An Introductory Text, Second Edition, presents twenty-two basic psychological concepts that therapists may use to understand clients and provide successful services to them. Each chapter focuses on a single concept using material from family therapy literature, basic psychological and clinical research studies, and cross-cultural research studies. Basic Concepts in Family Therapy is particularly useful to therapists working in a family context with child- or adolescent-referred problems, and for students and clinicians treating the problems they see every day in their community. The book builds on the strengths of the first edition, incorporating ideas and articles that have become worthy of investigating since 1990 into the original text. This new edition also introduces five new chapters on resiliency and poverty, adoption, chronic illness, spirituality and religion, and parenting strategies. The new chapters make the book far more relevant for students and clinicians try ing to use family theory and technique in response to the problems they see in their communities. Basic Concepts in Family Therapy will assist you in offering clients better services by providing a deeper understanding of the contemporary family in its various forms, the psychological bonds that shape all families, and the developmental stages of the family life cycle. This exploration of how family demography, stages and life cycles affect family functions is a solid foundation from which all of the therapeutic concepts in this book can be explored. Some of the facets of family therapy you will explore in Basic Concepts in Family Therapy are:

• the importance of spirituality and religion in family therapy
• generational boundaries, closeness, and role behaviors
• managing a family's emotions
• defining problems and generating and evaluating possible solutions
• teaching children specific attitudes, values, social skills, and norms
• transracial adoptions and normative processes and developmental issues of adoptive parents
• strategies for reducing conflict
• ... and much more! Basic Concepts in Family Therapy will help to broaden your understanding of the ways families function in general. You can use the effective concepts explored in this text to make a thorough assessment of the impact of a disorder on a child and on the rest of his or her family, as well as how family dynamics might have shaped or exacerbated the problems. The concepts described in this text can be customized to clients'cultural values to avoid unnecessary resistance. As a new therapist, you will gain confidence in your assessments, and if you are already a seasoned professional, you will gain creativity in your interventions.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Basic Concepts in Family Therapy
• Notes for Professional Librarians and Library Users
• Half Title page
• THE HAWORTH PRESS
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• About The Author
• Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Unit I: Getting Acquainted with the Family
• Chapter 1 Exploring the Family Structure
• Unit II: Family Concepts — A Systems Perspective
• Chapter 2 Individuation
• Chapter 3 Separation
• Chapter 4 Cutoffs
• Chapter 5 Triangles
• Chapter 6 Rituals
• Chapter 7 Secrets
• Chapter 8 Multigenerational Effects
• Chapter 9 Networks and Ecosystems
• Unit III: Family Concepts—Ecological Stressors
• Chapter 10 Family Resiliency and Poverty
• Chapter 11 Chronic Illness in Children: Stressors and Family Coping Strategies
• Chapter 12 Adoption and Infertility
• Unit IV: Family Concepts—a Cognitive Perspective
• Chapter 13 Communication Styles
• Chapter 14 Problem Solving
• Chapter 15 Family Productivity
• Unit V: Family Concepts— A Sibling Perspective
• Chapter 16 Birth Order
• Chapter 17 Sibling Relationships
• Unit VI: Family Concepts—A Social Psychological Perspective
• Chapter 18 Attribution
• Chapter 19 Equity Theory
• Chapter 20 Reactance
• Chapter 21 Cultural Influences on the Family
• Chapter 22 Spirituality
• Resources
• Author Index
• Subject Index