Family Kaleidoscope [Paperback]

Salvador Minuchin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1986 | ISBN-10: 0674292316 | ISBN-13: 978-0674292314

By means of a series of personal anecdotes, protocols, fables, and plays, the eminent family therapist probes and assesses the role of the individual within the family and the social, political, and legal contexts of the family.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[This book], the fruit of Dr. Minuchin's year off from clinic and classroom, presents several case studies, each making the same point about the primacy of the family...[It] offers a radical departure in format. Dr. Minuchin breaks free of the typical palidness of case reports and employs some experimental writing.
--Daniel Goleman (New York Times Book Review )

Vignettes of families in transition, of new and old family violence--in a delicate, resonant interplay of fact, fiction, and imaginary dialogues by one of our most esteemed family therapists...The book has emotional and intellectual drama. It speaks at once for family therapy...for family, all-family, mindedness. (Kirkus Reviews )

his enjoyable and clearly written text gives any reader, whether from a clinical or theoretical perspective, much to consider. A reader/author dialogue at the end of each chapter addresses in a thought-provoking yet playful manner many of the theoretical issues to be considered in dealing with families...This book has appeal for a variety of audiences and will be read on a number of levels. The experienced clinician and family studies theorist will benefit from a fresh approach and the humor and unconventional format presented. The individual with limited experience with family systems concepts will find an easy to read account of family therapy without the often intimidating and unfamiliar jargon.
--Debra Cole Russell (Family Relations )

[Minuchin] has a fine grasp of family dynamics and he writes about it with imagination and vigor...He helps readers escape the habit of thinking in terms of individuals and begin to see the whole of the family system. He describes the struggles of families in transition--and the triangular complexities of these developments...Writing for the general public allows an author to be more candid, to drop some of the formal conventions of professional writing and reveal the personal side of the writer. In [this book] we get to hear from Minuchin the expert and Minuchin the person. He is never smug, always open and feeling.
--Michael Nichols (Family Therapy Networker )

The very richness, depth and breadth of this book make it difficult to recommend to the nonresearch clinician...Minuchin writes [the book] from the dual perspective of a self-styled elder of the family therapy movement and the freedom of an early retirement. Roaming widely and persuasively, he pursues his theme in varied, ingenious ways...Case illustrations from both history and fiction are examined with Minuchin's flair for the dramatic and his sharp, critical eye. An imaginary dialogue between Author and Reader ends each chapter--a disarming way to raise some of the issues the skeptical reader wants raised.
--Kenneth S. Robson (Journal of Child Psychology )

The substance of [the book] is stories. The people Minuchin describes come alive, and we come to care what happens to them. They are each parts of the kaleidoscope, but they transcend the patterns of which they are a part...[The book] deserves an audience. It joins that small company of books...that help the public understand the work of family therapists and its theoretical contributions. It is the most personal of Minuchin's books, and Minuchin is its most interesting story.
--Henry Grunebaum, M.D. (Family Process )

About the Author

Salvador Minuchin, M.D., is Research Professor at the New York University Medical School. He is author of Families and Family Therapy and Family Kaleidoscope and coauthor of Psychosomatic Families: Anorexia Nervosa in Context.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (January 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674292316
• ISBN-13: 978-0674292314
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #996,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pleasure to read, December 12, 2002

By 

Mila (Glen Allen, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Kaleidoscope (Paperback)

You would think this book is for specialists: family therapists, psychologists, social workers and so on. But is not. Or at least not only. Specialists will enjoy a book that is literature and still challenges your perspectives so deeply, but non-specialists will be especially amazed.
As a matter of fact, we all can be labeled "specialist", when it comes to FAMILY. We all know a big deal about our family and its structures, and its sorrows and its joys, don't we? Mr. Minuchin explains how families work in a way that will change your ideas about it forever and, accordingly, he challenges the way specialists have been working with families in the last years.

I particularly liked the observation of "normal" families who are dealing with divorce or remarriage of its members. I must admit I had never thought of divorce in a historical perspective, as Minuchin succeeds in putting it.
The description of the families with anorectic members are very interesting. Anorexia is treated by specialists as a very difficult issue to cure, and it is amazing to see how focusing on the family it becomes easier to understand and possibly to overcome.
In another section of the book, Mr. Minuchin describes how The Law takes decision about problematic families, completely ignoring their situation of "being a whole" and causing spirals of unresolved problems. He describes some extremely interesting cases of child murder and parent murder and analyses them, to convince us that our actual system of justice is absolutely biased when it comes to families.

What makes the book particularly enjoyable is the use of scripts of real session with families to explain the author's theories. If you are one of those readers, who-like me- love books filled up with dialogues, you'll love this! In a couple of cases, Minuchin writes himself a fictional dialogue, based on his expertise of families. And it is beautiful fiction too!

If you're new of Minuchin theories and techniques this is the book to read!
For further reading about Anorexia Nervosa, get Psychosomatic Families, anorexia nervosa in context, by S.Minuchin et Al.
If you're amazed by Minuchin healing power, get Family Therapy Techniques, by S.Minuchin

2 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone suffer with a member's disability, April 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Family Kaleidoscope (Paperback)

A great book. Sad how child and family have to suffer