Strengthening Family Resilience [Hardcover]

Froma Walsh PhD MSW (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572304081 | ISBN-13: 978-1572304086 | Publication Date: September 25, 1998 | Edition: 1ST

How do some families successfully weather crisis situations and adversity, while others weaken or even break apart? Focusing on what we can learn from resilient individuals and well-functioning families, this book provides clinicians with a framework for preventive and interventive work with families that are distressed or at risk. Froma Walsh draws on current research and extensive clinical experience to identify the key processes that buffer families in times of stress, including belief systems, family structure, and communication patterns. Readers learn strength- promoting, collaborative strategies for helping families deal with divorce, death, and other losses; multicrisis situations; and persistent challenges such as illness and poverty.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Drawing on her extensive experience as a family practitioner and researcher, in this volume Froma Walsh presents an approach to all kinds of families that recognizes and makes use of their resilience and often hidden resources. Bringing substance to the promise of a strengths perspective, this engaging, informative, and useful work is an invaluable resource for social work practitioners, educators, and students interested in families." --Ann Hartman, DSW, Visiting Distinguished Professor, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, New York, Dean and Professor Emerita, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Massachusetts

"For a field so steeped in pathology and so focused on the individual, Froma Walsh's book is a breath of fresh air. Strengthening Family Resilience is clear and comprehensive, incorporating research and clinical perspectives, demonstrating through a positive longitudinal perspective how our lives can be transformed beyond trauma, pain, and tragedy. Resilience is a pivotal topic of our times, essential to our survival and to our overcoming adversity. This book shifts perspective from family weakness and dysfunction to family potential, resourcefulness, strength, and ability to rebound through collaborative efforts. Walsh provides a brilliant reformulation of resilience, exploring the rich interpersonal context of families and communities within which resilience evolves." --Monica McGoldrick, ACSW, PhD (h.c.), Director, The Family Institute of New Jersey, Metuchen, New Jersey

"The ideas and clinical directions contained in this book are immediately usable by therapists of all persuasions. And what do we need more--in this world and in our offices--than a sound, clear, profoundly thoughtful method of dealing with stress that calls forth the strengths within us? Walsh's book provides this in lively, warm-hearted prose that summarizes the research, reveals Walsh's years of interest and experience with the subject, and gives useful clinical examples and content outlines that are every teacher's dream." --Betty Carter, MSW

"This volume is a wonderful guide to delineating and enhancing the interpersonal resources that families bring to meet the challenges and crises of their lives. The author weaves together her exceptional scholarship, clinical wisdom and personal experience into a tapestry of great value for researchers and clinicians." --David Reiss, MD, Division of Research, Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC

From the Back Cover

Drawing on her extensive experience as a family practitioner and researcher, in this volume Froma Walsh presents an approach to all kinds of families that recognizes and makes use of their resilience and often hidden resources. Bringing substance to the promise of a strengths perspective, this engaging, informative, and useful work is an invaluable resource for social work practitioners, educators, and students interested in families (Ann Hartman, DSW, Visiting Distinguished Professor, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, New York, Dean and Professor Emerita, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Massachusetts).

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1ST edition (September 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572304081
• ISBN-13: 978-1572304086
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,196,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Every Family Therapists/Counselors, July 9, 2000

By 

Ta-Wei Wang (Taiwan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strengthening Family Resilience (Hardcover)

Traditional family systems theory which contributes to the development of various family therapy schools is largely derived from clinical observations of families with psychitric patients. Many family researchers were eagerly looking for what causes individual pathology within families. They ignored the bright sides. Even when facing major crisis, each family has its own strengths to help itself go back on track. Sometimes that resilient power may make the family become even healthier and stronger than before. Dr. Froma Walsh outlines the qualities that help families sustain the storming weather, and suggest a new approach of clinical practice. The book has three parts. Part I is an overview providing theoretical foundations for this approach. It also dicusses the family diversity issues in this changing society. Part II contains four chapters. First three chapters address the three key family processes in resilience, which are Belief Systems, Organizational Processes, and Communication Processes. The remaining chapter offers an integrative framework for family assessment. Part III explores family resilience through crisis and challenge. Death and loss and chronic illness are chosen for illustrating how family develops resilience through adversity or traumatic experiences. The author then dicusses how to treat vulnerable multi-crisis families through strength-based and family-centered services. The book closes with the chapter on reconnection and reconciliation. Combining with family-of-origin work and forgiveness promotion, the author offers ways to "mend the broken hearts." I found this book easy to read, and the organization is very clear. It is a excellent basic text for understanding fundamantal family system dynamics. Is is also very useful for counselors and therapists to alter the views to emphasize more on the strengths of individuals and families, rather than on the deficits and weakness.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended., January 5, 2007

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strengthening Family Resilience, Second Edition (Guilford Family Therapy Series) (Hardcover)

Now in an updated second edition, Strengthening Family Resilience is a guide for both families and therapists by Froma Walsh, who has received awards for her leadership in the field of family therapy from the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and AFTA. Strengthening Family Resilience especially focuses upon the quality of being able to withstand and rebound from a crisis or persistent challenges, the key difference between families shattered by tragedy and trauma while other families survive and even grow stronger in the wake of adversity. A scholarly text of especial value to professionals and students in the field of counseling and therapy, Strengthening Family Resilience covers the key processes in resilience such as belief systems, organizational patterns, and communication processes, as well as means to facilitate the cultivation of resilience in times of greatest need, forming connections in times of dire conflict, and much more. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strengthening Family Resilience, January 12, 2009

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Jeanine M. Swenson "Jeanine" (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strengthening Family Resilience, Second Edition (Guilford Family Therapy Series) (Hardcover)

Heartfelt and exceptionally well-referenced, this wonderful book by Dr. Froma Walsh holds many keys for success in the 21st century. Dr. Walsh discusses the elements that make individuals resilient and expands them to families and communities. Offering many recipes and solutions for balance in our modern and stress-filled world, this book is an important way to promote health and happiness for yourself and your loved ones. I recommend it for any caring professional that works with children or families.