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Family Therapists (family + therapist)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	93%
2 Other Domains	7%

Selected Abstracts

VALUES IN THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY THERAPIST: SELF DETERMINATION AND JUSTICE

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2003
Richard Melito
Recently, there has been renewed interest in the role of values in family therapy. A number of theorists agree that there is an inherent ethical dimension in all forms of therapy, because therapy necessarily involves influencing others in accord with a set of values. In cultures that value self determination, a potential conflict arises between the therapist's inherent moral influence and protecting the client's self determination. This article identifies that dilemma and investigates how different treatment approaches resolve it as they attempt to promote justice in the family. [source]

GAY AND LESBIAN COUPLES IN THERAPY: PERSPECTIVES FOR THE CONTEMPORARY FAMILY THERAPIST

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 4 2000
Claudia Bepko
This paper outlines the major concerns of gay and lesbian couples who seek therapy. Presenting problems are classified as either internal to the relationship or as external (contextual) ones that reflect the influence of oppressive cultural and gender biases. Throughout the article, distinctive therapy methods are described that address the unique concerns of lesbian and gay couples, with special sensitivity to heterosexist and homophobic bias. [source]

COMMENTARY BY A SYSTEMIC FAMILY THERAPIST

BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, Issue 3 2000
Pat Gray
First page of article [source]

DEVELOPING CULTURALLY EFFECTIVE FAMILY-BASED RESEARCH PROGRAMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY THERAPISTS

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2004
William L. Turner
Recently, some family scholars have developed greater sensitivity to the relative neglect of families of color in clinical and empirical research. Consequently, a proliferation of research elucidating many nuances of ethnic families has come to the forefront, containing a wealth of knowledge with useful implications for family therapists and other mental health providers. The findings of these studies hold enormously important implications for how family therapists can better engage and accommodate families of color in therapy: In this article we discuss some of the etiological and methodological issues associated with planning, conducting, and disseminating family-based prevention and intervention research programs with ethnic minority families. [source]

CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS RESEARCH: A RESOURCE FOR COUPLE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2004
Susan S. Hendrick
This article describes the relatively new field of close relationships research, offering a representative list of topics studied by relationships reseachers. Some of the common interests shared by both close relationships reseachers and couple and family therapists are described, with theshared emphasis on relationships as an anchor for both fields. Some representative love theories are discussed, and Love Styles theory and research are presented in considerable detail. A clinicalcase example indicates how love styles research may be employed to advantage by couple therapists, and the utility of other close relationships theories and measures for therapy is briefly discussed. [source]

DEVELOPING CULTURALLY COMPETENT MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS: TREATMENT GUIDELINES FOR NON-AFRICAN-AMERICAN THERAPISTS WORKING WITH AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 2 2002
Roy A. Bean
To serve African-American families effectively, marriage and family therapists need to develop a level of cultural competence. This content analysis of the relevant treatment literature was conducted to examine the most common expert recommendations for family therapy with African Americans. Fifteen specific guidelines were generated, including orient the family to therapy, do not assume familiarity, address issue of racism, intervene multi-systemically, do home visits, use problem-solving focus, involve religious leader, incorporate the father, and acknowledge strengths. conceptual and empirical support for each guideline is discussed, and conclusions are made regarding culturally conpetent therapy with African-American families. [source]

The Doctoral Education of Professional Marriage and Family Therapists

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2010
Robert E. Lee
The professional practice of marriage and family therapy (MFT) scholarship is regulated at the master's level in the United States. Consequently, contemporary curricular issues have largely been focused on what is to be achieved within the master's degree, with an emphasis on clinical practice. We consider here what value may and should be added through the doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy. Doctoral programs are the developmental stage wherein we should seek to transmit the specialized knowledge and skills germane to MFT scholarship and practice in diverse settings, e.g., clinical and research intensive university, family law, health care, child development and education, child welfare, juvenile justice, faith based, and business. However, underlying this specialty education are three transcendental goals: sophistication of family systems scholarship, socialization into the profession of MFT, and cultivation of professional maturity. [source]

Reflections of Two Trainees: Person-of-the-Therapist Training for Marriage and Family Therapists

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 4 2009
Lauren Lutz
In this article we share our personal and professional experiences, struggles, and growth, as former trainees of the Person-of-the-Therapist Training pilot study, conducted during our master's coursework in the Couple and Family Therapy Department at Drexel University. We include our perceptions of the training process in vivo, the challenges and benefits of doing this work in an academic setting, case examples to convey our journey of personal discovery, and the use of what we learned about ourselves in our development as therapists. This development includes a deepening of awareness of self in our relationship and work with our clients, a greater ability to work with both our personal assets and vulnerabilities, as well as the acquisition of skills to actively and purposefully use our entire person diagnostically and therapeutically in our work with clients. [source]

Cybersex and the E-teen: What Marriage and Family Therapists Should Know

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 4 2008
David L. Delmonico
Adolescents who use the Internet regularly (the "e-teen") present a new set of challenges for marriage and family therapists. This article introduces marriage and family therapists to (a) the basic technological concepts and unique psychological characteristics of the Internet important in understanding and addressing adolescent online sexual behavior, (b) the appropriate developmental expectations for teens online, including risk-taking behaviors and critical decision-making skills, and (c) suggested strategies for assessment, prevention, and intervention when dealing with problematic online sexual behavior in adolescents. Marriage and family therapists cannot ignore the role the Internet plays in adolescent sexual development and its implication for the family. This article will serve as a primer for the marriage and family therapist when presented with adolescents who engage in online sexual behaviors. [source]

Innovative Ways to Address the Mental Health and Medical Needs of Marginalized Patients: Collaborations Between Family Physicians, Family Therapists, and Family Psychologists

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2004
Warren L. Holleman PhD
This article describes an innovative program to meet the needs of homeless women, children, and families residing at a transitional living center in an urban setting. The program involves collaboration between medical and mental health professionals to address the multiple problems and unmet needs of this population. Recommendations for future work in expanding collaborative practice are discussed. [source]

Whatever happened to biology?

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 2 2001
Reconnecting family therapy with its evolutionary origins
This article argues for a rapprochement between family therapy and biological science. In spite of the prevailing tendency nowadays to write biology out of the story of family therapy, it has played a central historical and conceptual role in the origin of our discipline. Family therapists may have done themselves and their patients a disservice by distancing themselves from the discipline of biology; ignorance of modern biological ideas may be a serious handicap in the practice of therapy. The gap between contemporary biology and the kind of postmodern thinking currently favoured by many therapists is not as great as it appears, and may be bridged. [source]

Co-creating change within a child protection system: integrating art therapy with family therapy practice

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2003
Hilary Manicom
This paper considers family art therapy intervention using a partnership developed between an art therapist and a family therapist within a child protection system. The aim of this co-working relationship is to bring together skills that can amplify the child's voice within the family, using art as a means of extending the family story. The use of metaphor adds to the repertoire of skills available when working with families, and offers a particular form of communication in which children can more easily engage. By co-working, we also bring together our personal and professional stories, creating multiple ideas and ways of seeing and taking account of differences in the life experiences of individual families. [source]

Cybersex and the E-teen: What Marriage and Family Therapists Should Know

Multiracial Recruitment in the Field of Family Therapy: An Innovative Training Program for People of Color

FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 3 2005
Laurie Kaplan
This article describes the creation of a training program designed to increase the number of family therapists of color in the family therapy field. In 1992, a partnership between New York City schools of social work, community agencies, and the Ackerman Institute for the Family created the Diversity and Social Work Training Program. Elements critical to the program's success were recruitment strategies, mentorships, partnerships with outside organizations, provision of a long-term institutional commitment, biracial collaborations, and institutional change. This article describes the design, structure, and process of this program's evolution and its impact 12 years later. [source]

Save the Young,the Elderly Have Lived Their Lives: Ageism in Marriage and Family Therapy,

FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 2 2000
David C. Ivey Ph.D.
The paucity of literature addressing mental health issues concerning geriatric populations represents the perpetuation of ageist practices and beliefs in the field of marriage and family therapy. The purpose of this study was to assess whether client age and clinical training relate to the evaluation of couples who present for conjoint therapy. Written vignettes describing two couples, one older and one younger, who report issues involving the absence of sexual intimacy, increased frequency of arguments, and increased use of alcohol were evaluated by practicing marriage and family therapists, therapists-in-training, and individuals with no clinical background. It was hypothesized that respondents' views would vary in connection with the age of the couple and with the three levels of participant training. Results indicate that client age and participant training are associated with perceptions of individual and couple functioning. Our findings suggest that the relational and mental health concerns experienced by elder couples are not perceived as seriously as are identical concerns experienced by younger couples. Contrary to our expectations the observed differences between views of the two age conditions did not significantly differ between levels of participant training. Training and experience in marriage and family therapy may not significantly mitigate vulnerability to age-discrepant views. [source]

Family therapy and family therapists: ambiguous and ambivalent relationships

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 2 2010
Mark Rivett
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Being there, experiencing and creating space for dialogue: about working with children in family therapy

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 4 2008
Peter Rober
While most authors agree that it is important to mobilize the active participation of children in the family therapy session, a lot of family therapists exclude children from participating because they do not feel comfortable with children. Teaching family therapists to feel more comfortable around children is a good idea, but perhaps it is not enough. In this article, the author reflects on the complexity of the issue of the comfort of the therapist in a session with children and families. In the discussion of the case story of Elly and her mother, practitioners are reminded that the therapist's experiencing in the session can help her to understand something of what goes on in the families she is working with. [source]

The crucial roles of attachment in family therapy

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 2 2008
John Byng-Hall
This paper's aim is to enable family therapists from whatever approach to address family attachments during their work. It explores the role of attachment in the family, and how to enable therapists to increase security in the family so that family members can solve their own problems during and after therapy. The article gives a brief overview of the nature of family attachment relationships and the influence of secure and insecure attachments within the family and their narrative styles. This is described in language that a therapist might readily hold in mind and share the ideas in dialogue with families. The paper discusses the interplay between insecure attachments and other family problems, such as parental conflict and disagreements over authority. It also discusses ways of establishing a secure therapeutic base and the influence of the therapist's own attachment style. The implications for family therapy practice are described and illustrated by work with a specific family. [source]

Psychological functioning in families that blame: from blaming events to theory integration

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 4 2005
Ceri Bowen
Blaming events in therapy were used as a focus for discussions with family therapists in order to examine their construal of the therapeutic process when working with families who blame. Interview transcripts were used as data which were analysed using a qualitative methodology, with a view to building a theoretical model. We present an exploratory model that allows therapists to position their therapy within a broader framework of psychological approaches. When prompted by a video-clip of blaming from the therapy setting, therapists tended to categorize current difficulties in terms of fear and control issues from past relationships and consequent underlying beliefs, and they also described the resultant negative outlook as a direct challenge to therapist idealism. Interestingly, the two themes that emerged from the interview data with the most categories and quotes were ,unhealthy allocation of responsibility for problems', which is arguably the main source of overt blaming, and ,family identity and cohesion', so often a point of contention during therapy. [source]

Engaging men in family therapy: does the gender of the therapist make a difference?

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2001
Anna Dienhart
The results of this exploratory Delphi study provide a beginning formulation of a gender-sensitive approach to working with men in the specialized field of couple and family therapy. The research specifically investigated what a panel of thirty-six ,expert' family therapists believed would be appropriate and effective techniques to engage men in therapy and in the process of family change. This report focuses on findings highlighting differences between what female and male therapists preferred as techniques to work with men in family therapy. [source]

African American Therapists Working With African American Families: An Exploration of the Strengths Perspective in Treatment

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2009
LaVerne Bell-Tolliver
With the exception of Hill's (1971, 1999) work, historically much of the literature on African American families has focused more on pathology than strengths. This study used interviews with 30 African American psychotherapists, self-identified as employing a strengths perspective with African American families, to investigate which strengths they identified in the families and how they use those strengths in therapy. Themes emerging from data analysis confirmed the continued importance of the five strengths Hill noted. In addition, two new strengths were identified by the participants: a willingness of a greater number of families to seek therapy, and the importance of family structure. Strategies used in engaging the families in therapy and practice implications for family therapists are discussed. [source]

Psychological Differences Between HIV-Positive Mothers Who Disclose to All, Some, or None of Their Biological Children

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 2 2009
Robin Ostrom Delaney
This study explored the psychological differences between HIV-positive women who disclosed their serostatus to all, some, or none of their biological children. Data from this project come from a larger, longitudinal investigation of the disclosure process of HIV-infected women. Data were obtained regarding the disclosure processes and the psychological adjustment of women with children (n = 90) based on measures of depression, anxiety, and stress. Results suggest that women who disclose to all, some, or none of their children are not significantly different with regard to emotional well-being. Implications for marriage and family therapists are provided. [source]

Cybersex and the E-teen: What Marriage and Family Therapists Should Know

The Development of Core Competencies for the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 4 2007
Thorana S. Nelson
In response to a series of national policy reports regarding what has been termed the "quality chasm" in health and mental health care in the United States, in January 2003, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy convened a task force to develop core competencies (CC) for the practice of marriage and family therapy (MFT). The task force also was responding to a call for outcome-based education and for the need to answer questions about what marriage and family therapists do. Development of the CC moves the field of MFT into a leading-edge position in mental health. This article describes the development of the CC, outcomes of the development process for the competencies, and recommendations for their continued development and implementation. [source]

USE OF SIMULATED CLIENTS IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY EDUCATION

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2007
Jennifer L. Hodgson
Knowledge of how one should manage suicidal, homicidal, child maltreatment, and domestic violence situations is paramount in the training of marriage and family therapists (MFTs). Simulated patient modules were created to help clinical faculty address these crisis situations in a protected learning environment. The modules were implemented by the MFT faculty in collaboration with the Office of Clinical Skills Assessment and Education at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine. Qualitative data over the course of 2 years revealed six thematic domains regarding therapists' performance, therapists' emotions, the simulation experiences, and lessons learned. Educational, clinical, and research recommendations include tools to implement simulation exercises into marriage and family therapy programs as well as suggestions to assess for teaching effectiveness. [source]

DEVELOPING CULTURALLY EFFECTIVE FAMILY-BASED RESEARCH PROGRAMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY THERAPISTS

CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS RESEARCH: A RESOURCE FOR COUPLE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS

MOTIVATIONAL, ETHICAL, AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS IN THE TREATMENT OF UNWANTED HOMOEROTIC ATTRACTION

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2003
Christopher H. Rosik
A recent special section of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy(October, 2000) focusing on the mental health needs of gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals neglected to address the clinical needs of homosexual persons who desire to increase their heterosexual potential. This article attempts to correct this omission by outlining common motivations for pursuing change, updating the current state of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of change efforts, and providing some ethical guidelines when therapists encounter clients who present with unwanted homoerotic attraction. Finally, to assist marriage and family therapists (MFTs) in more deply understanding divergent perspectives about reorientation treatments, an examination of the role of moral epistemology is presented and some examples of its potential influence are described. MFTs are encouraged to recognize and accept, rather than ignore or deny the valid needs of clients who seek to modify their same-sex attraction. [source]

DEVELOPING CULTURALLY COMPETENT MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS: TREATMENT GUIDELINES FOR NON-AFRICAN-AMERICAN THERAPISTS WORKING WITH AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES