Families and Family Therapy (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

There is no doubt that Minuchin has written a splendid book on family therapy. His thoughts are presented clearly and systematically, without short-changing conceptual and clinical sophistication. The book is a rounded, self-contained statement of structural family therapy that has much to teach the advanced therapist, of whatever theoretical persuasion, and perhaps equally as much to teach the beginner.
--Kitty La Perriere, Ph.D. (Family Process )

Families and Family Therapy is far and away the most important single unified book to have emerged to date from the field of family therapy. Published by Harvard University Press, it is a landmark textbook that will greatly facilitate the task of the teacher of family therapy and theory. The student who is learning to work with families will find it easy to understand, fascinating, and richly rewarding at many levels... [Minuchin] has combined the most sophisticated of conceptual approaches with simple, direct exposition, achieving a creative synthesis that, in this reviewer's opinion, will stand as the definitive textbook in this field for perhaps another generation...Among family therapists, Minuchin is recognized as a most original innovator, a superb clinician, and an outstanding teacher. He has been able to transmit all of his background and experience into this excellent book. Anyone who has a serious interest in family therapy today will want to have and to know this book.
--Robert A. Ravich, M.D. (American Journal of Psychotherapy )

This book is simply magnificent. Both novice and experienced family therapists can learn much from it. Just as Dr. Minuchin becomes quickly engaged with families, so the reader will become quickly engaged with his book. This will be a major and lasting contribution to the field of family study and therapy. I for one will make it standard reading with my students, psychiatric residents, and other trainees, as well as faculty.
--Lyman C. Wynne, M.D., Ph.D.

This book will be interesting to a variety of readers, and particularly useful for mental health professionals working with groups, family counselors interested in the dynamic of family process, and scholars of social psychiatric phenomena.
--Sylvia Clavan (Journal of Marriage and the Family )

[The book], developed out of Salvador Minuchin's acute clinical observations, presents a map of structural theory and a set of guidelines which have led to astonishingly effective changes in dysfunctional families. What may seem simple in Minuchin's approach is often uncommon common sense or the deep clinical wisdom that emerges out of intensive, repetitive study of family interactions and communications.
--Arthur Mandelbaum, M.S.W. (Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic )

Product Description

No other book in the field today so fully combines vivid clinical examples, specific details of technique, and mature perspectives on both effectively functioning families and those seeking therapy. The views and strategies of a master clinician are presented here in such clear and precise form that readers can proceed directly from the book with comparisons and modifications to suit their own styles and working situations.

Dr. Minuchin presents six chapter-length transcripts of actual family sessions-two devoted to ordinary families who are meeting their problems with relative success; four concerned with families seeking help. Accompanying each transcript is the author's running interpretation of what is taking place, laying particular stress on the therapist's tactics and maneuvers.

These lively sessions are interpreted in a brilliant theoretical analysis of why families develop problems and what it takes to set them right. The author constructs a model of an effectively functioning family and defines the boundaries around its different subsystems, whether parental, spouse, or sibling. He discusses ways in which families adapt to stress from within and without, as they seek to survive and grow.

Dr. Minuchin describes methods of diagnosing or "mapping" problems of the troubled family and determining appropriate therapeutic goals and strategies. Different situations, such as the extended family, the family with a parental child, and the family in transition through death or divorce, are examined. Finally, the author explores the dynamics of change, examining the variety of restructuring operations that can be employed to challenge a family and to change its basic patterns.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674292367
• ISBN-13: 978-0674292369
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,822 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Structural Family Therapy Explained, December 22, 2001

By	Geoffrey L Smith "mftgeoff" (Visalia, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Sal Minuchin is known as the primary theoretician behind Structural Family Therapy. Structural Therapy is especially helpful with families that have inappropriate boundaries or that have dysfunctional marital dyads. This book explains the concepts behind the theory and helps the clinician understand how to put the therapy into practice. The book is well written and easy to read.

Even if a therapist is primarily working with another counseling theory, this is an important book to have read and to have as part of the therapeutic repetoire.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like taking a Structural Family Therapy course!, October 26, 2003

By A Customer

I purchased this book for a graduate course in Couples and Family Systems. If anyone wants to learn a great deal about structural family therapy, I highly recommend this book. It is extremely informative and very readable. It's amazingly enlightening- Minuchin discusses how problems that are regarded as genetic or biological are really manifestations of dysfunctional families,e.g. anorexic women are a product of couples who withhold their feelings.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to Family Therapy, November 9, 2006

By	Brian M. Jobe (Catonsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Provides the rationale for Munuchin's approach to Family Therapy. Plenty of actual session transcriptions that demonstrate the principles described. Easy to read and understand