Family Therapy: A Systemic Integration

Covers the paradigmatic shift of systems theory/ therapeutic intervention & strategies/behavioral approaches.

This comprehensive, yet user-friendly survey of the field of marriage and family therapy takes a holistic view and looks at people within the context of their environment.

The systemic-cybernetic framework helps readers understanding people and families in context. The text — divided into three sections including "The Systemic Framework," "The Practice of Family Therapy," and "The Systemic Practitioner" — includes historical information, current developments, and ongoing debates. Various family and developmental theories are integrated into a “dynamic process model” for viewing and understanding family interactions and relationships. The family therapy models considered include psychodynamic, natural systems, experiential, structural, communications, strategic, and behavioral/cognitive as well as several postmodern approaches. Within the context of practice, Assessment; Intervention; Training/Supervision; Research; and Epistemological Challenges are described and discussed

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A course text explaining the basic tenets of systems theory and how it is applied to family therapy. First published in 1988, and here revised from the 1996 edition with discussions of two different histories and projections of the field, the influence of postmodernism on family therapy, a more broadly defined family, and other topics. Suggested reading lists and many of the therapy modalities have been moved to the instructor's manual. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dorothy S. Becvar, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Social Work at Saint Louis University. A Licensed Marital and Family Therapist and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she also has maintained a private practice, either full or part-time, since 1980 and is President/CEO of The Haelan Centers^®, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to facilitating growth and wholeness in body, mind and spirit. Dorothy has published extensively and in addition to many journal articles and book chapters is the author of three books, and the editor of two books. With her husband, Raphael J. Becvar, she has co-authored four books and is co-editor with others of two additional books. She has just completed a five-year term as Editor of Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, and is a member of the editorial boards of several professional journals.

Raphael J. (Ray) Becvar received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Minnesota. He has been a Professor at St. Louis University, Texas Tech University, Lindenwood University, and the University of Louisiana, Monroe where he held the Distinguished Scholar’s Endowed Chair in Marital and Family Therapy. At St. Louis University and the University of Louisiana, Monroe he developed doctoral programs in Marital and Family Therapy. He has been a part-time faculty member of Walden University since 2000 in Health and Human Services. Ray’s philosophical/theoretical interests include systems theory, postmodernism, social constructionism, and constructivism as applied to work in Health and Human Services, Marriage and Family Therapy and Education. He has authored/coauthored 10 books as well as numerous articles in professional and popular journals. He maintains a small private practice specializing in Marital and Family Therapy.