Families and Family Therapy

This special edition of the classic text includes a new introduction from Professor Arlene Vetere exploring its continuing influence on contemporary practice.

One of family therapy’s foundational texts, Families and Family Therapy is as relevant today as it has ever been. Examining the therapist’s role, Dr. Minuchin presents the views and strategies of a master clinician in a clear and practical form. Transcripts of actual family sessions—both with families meeting their problems fairly successfully and those seeking help—are accompanied by a running interpretation of what is taking place. The book constructs a model of an effectively functioning family and defining the boundaries around its different subsystems, whether parental, spouse, or sibling. It then explores the ways in which families adapt to stress from within and without, as they seek to survive and grow.

Combining vivid clinical examples, specific details of technique, and mature perspectives on both effectively functioning families and those seeking therapy, this is an important text for all those interesting in the theory and practice of family therapy.

This book can be used on courses such as Family Therapy, Family Interventions, Systemic Practice, and Systemic Counselling within departments of Psychology, Mental Health, and Counselling; and by undergraduate students on Social Work qualifying courses.