Normal Family Processes, Third Edition: Growing Diversity and Complexity [Hardcover]

Froma Walsh PhD MSW (Editor), Froma Walsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 20, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1572308168 | ISBN-13: 978-1572308169 | Edition: Third Edition

Since its original publication two decades ago, this widely adopted text has been acclaimed as a milestone in the clinical literature. Surveying the vast diversity of family forms, life challenges, and value systems in our rapidly changing society, the volume has helped redefine the boundaries of "normal family life" for generations of students and practitioners. This fully revised and expanded third edition once again brings together leading contributors to illuminate the complexities of healthy family functioning across varied structural arrangements and sociocultural and developmental contexts. Existing chapters have been updated or fully rewritten to reflect the latest theories, research, demographic trends, and clinical practices. Seven entirely new chapters address single parent families, immigrant families, spirituality, family resilience, key processes in marital success and failure, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Froma Walsh's work has moved the study of family processes from a deficit approach to an inclusive, strengths perspective that is critical to the teaching of Human Behavior and the Social Environment."--Roberta R. Greene, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin

"This volume is like an exquisite quilt, whose individual sections each can capture our interest and imagination and enlarge our vision. Taken as a whole, the book provides depth, breadth, and a sense of connection to all families in their struggle to grow and persevere in the face of adversity. Enabling us to inhabit and embrace differences in family structures, processes, relationships, behavior, and beliefs, Walsh and her contributors have given the mental health field an especially fitting gift. Our imperative as clinicians and researchers to reclaim an expansive, layered conceptualization of normal families--in the face of an increasingly narrow and divisive right-wing political agenda--is powerfully facilitated by this sweeping book. Graduate students and practitioners in every mental health discipline will gain a new vision of what it means to be a family in the 21st century, and new respect for family resilience as a reliable partner in any therapeutic endeavor."--Evan Imber Black, PhD, Director, Center for Families and Health, Ackerman Institute for the Family

"If you think that you are up to date with the changing issues that challenge today's families, read this book and think again! This completely new third edition from Froma Walsh will be exciting for both old-timers and newcomers to family therapy research and practice. The broad and rapidly growing diversity in family life is freshly examined from a systemic perspective. From immigrant families to gay/lesbian families, from behavioral genetics to family social policy, from race to spirituality and beyond, these distinguished authors probe the complex multiplicity of what was once a single model of the family. Truly a great book."--Lyman C. Wynne, MD, PhD

"A wonderful antidote to the typical focus on family dysfunction, Normal Family Processes examines what works in families and what makes them resilient. Froma Walsh has found the formula for an indispensable text: the right topics about today's diverse families, and the best authors to address those topics. This classic text grows better with each edition."--William J. Doherty, PhD, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, University of Minnesota

"As in previous editions, the great asset of this book is the deep understanding of its editor and authors regarding the many forms of family life existing today. These writers take a strengths perspective as they see the potential for coping found in different types of families. The coverage of each family form is superb and fully up to date in view of recent scholarly findings. The book can serve as a classroom text in graduate and undergraduate courses in either family life or family practice. Practitioners will also rely on this book as the major reference on families."--Charles Garvin, PhD, School of Social Work, The University of Michigan

About the Author

Froma Walsh, MSW, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Social Service Administration and the Department of Psychiatry, Pritzker School of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Center for Family Health at the University of Chicago. A member of the Board of Directors of [i]Family Process[/i], she is a past editor of the [i]Journal of Marital and Family Therapy[/i], past president of the American Family Therapy Academy, and the recipient of numerous awards for her distinguished contributions to the field of mental health. Dr. Walsh's authored or edited publications include [i]Strengthening Family Resilience[/i] and [i]Spiritual Resources in Family Therapy[/i].

Product Details

• Hardcover: 678 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; Third Edition edition (December 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572308168
• ISBN-13: 978-1572308169
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Normal Family, February 6, 2012

By 

mcadmom0307 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Normal Family Processes, Third Edition: Growing Diversity and Complexity (Hardcover)

I am using this text for a family therapy course. The information within the book has been very enlightening. I has proven to be a useful tool within my class as well as within my own family. The authors are protraying the family as an every changing dynamic that needs to allow for growing room within society and within each person's definition of what a family is. Great reading!

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, November 10, 2011

By 

Susan Mcelree Donohue - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Normal Family Processes, Third Edition: Growing Diversity and Complexity (Hardcover)

Although the book has good content there are so many typos, grammatical errors, and missing words that it makes it almost too distracting to absorb the content. I am very disappointed that a $75.00+ textbook has such poor to non-existent editing and proof reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, well organized resource, April 16, 2011

By 

Dorian Gittleman (Champaign, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Normal Family Processes, Third Edition: Growing Diversity and Complexity (Hardcover)

This was my textbook for a Family Psychology class at the University of Illinois and it's an excellent resource compiled by one of the "big names" in Family Resiliency research. Unlike the previous reviewer, I would say that most of the people in my class really liked this book. It's a textbook, so let's not expect it to read like an Anne Rice novel, but the information is presented in a straightforward manner, and a lot of it is really interesting. (If you find the psychology of families interesting.) I compare it to the class I'm in now at the graduate level, which focuses on similar material but where we read only primary research material- and I miss that textbook. I've kept it on my shelves and referenced it repeatedly this semester. I would certainly recommend it, although I'm not certain whom I'd recommend it to, exactly. Counselors, or people planning to teach a Families class.