1st Edition

Family Therapy An Introduction to Process, Practice and Theory

By Michael D. Reiter Copyright 2018
    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    Family Therapy: An Introduction to Process, Practice and Theory is a primer for students, professionals, and trainees to understand how family therapists conceptualize the problems people bring to therapy, utilize basic therapeutic skills to engage clients in the therapeutic process, and navigate the predominant models of family therapy.  This text walks readers through each of these main areas via a straightforward writing style where they are provided with exercises and questions to help them develop the basic concepts and tools of being a family therapist. Upon finishing this book, students will have the foundational skills and knowledge needed to work relationally and systemically with clients.

    Preface  Part I: THINKING OF A FAMILY THERAPIST  1. General Systems Theory  2. Self of the Therapist  3. Who is Your Client?  4. Diversity  Part II: SKILLS OF A FAMILY THERAPIST  5. Beginning the Family Therapy Session  6. Basic Empathy Skills  7. Advanced Empathy Skills  8. Mutualization  9. Effective Use of Questions  10. Use of Self in Therapy  11. Dealing with Intensity  12. Goal Setting and Termination  Part III:  THEORY OF A FAMILY THERAPIST  13. Intergenerational Family Therapies  14. Experiential Family Therapies  15. Strategic Family Therapies  16. Systemic Family Therapies  17. Postmodern Family Therapies  18. Future of Family Therapy  Appendix: Master "Cheat" Sheet  References

    Biography

    Michael D. Reiter, PhD, is a professor of family therapy at Nova Southeastern University and author of Therapeutic Interviewing (Pearson, 2007), Case Conceptualization in Family Therapy (Pearson, 2014), The Craft of Family Therapy (Routledge, 2014)—written with Dr. Salvador Minuchin—, and Substance Abuse and the Family (Routledge, 2015).

    This text would be a welcome addition to introductory family therapy courses that focus on clinical skills.  Often students take theory courses that introduce them to the models and use the classic family therapy models to illustrate how family therapy has been practiced.  Then students use generic helping relationships skills texts for their initial practice training. 

    I see this text offering students and faculty a significant resource for two types of courses. First, the proposed text offers a practice oriented family therapy review, which would be useful introductory skill focused courses where the faculty want to focus on pragmatics yet retain a clear systemic focus.  Second, the text could be useful to faculty in counseling programs that have an emphasis in family therapy and have limited space in the curriculum. This text offers an efficiency in combing theory and practice with teachable application. Jim Furrow, professor, Fuller Theological University