Family Therapy and Counseling Series

Divorced, without Children

Solution Focused Therapy with Women at Midlife

• By Debra D. Castaldo
• Series Editor: Jon Carlson

The topic of women divorced at midlife without children is one that has, to date, been absent from professional and academic literature, though these women make up a considerable and growing portion of our population. This book explores the experience, meaning, and impact of divorce at midlife for women without children, and provides insights into the unique stressors and issues confronting these individuals so that the practitioner can better anticipate and meet their needs. Clinical considerations and case examples will be presented via the narrative stories of women who have experienced this unusual role in a world that is still primarily centered on marriage and mothering.

This book provides case examples, clinical themes, treatment recommendations, and suggests coping techniques and strategies. Castaldo draws heavily upon social constructionist, feminist, and narrative perspectives as theoretical frameworks for the book, as well as the results of her own qualitative research study. She suggests new concepts for women’s psychological development, including: an expanded family life cycle to include a normalized stage of mature single adulthood and a developmental process of autonomous competence for women. Other critical coping skills include meaning modification, role innovation, self-nurturing, expanded intimacy and attachment, and multi-diverse industriousness.

Published January 24th 2008 by Routledge.

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Family Art Therapy

Foundations of Theory and Practice

• By Christine Kerr, Janice Hoshino, Judy Sutherland, Sharyl Thode Parashak, Linda Lea McCarley

Family Art Therapy is designed to help the reader incorporate clinical art therapy intervention techniques into family therapy practice. Expressive modalities are often used in work with families, particularly visual art forms, and there is already considerable evidence and literature that point to a positive link between the two. This text is unique in that it draws together, for the first time in a single volume, an overview of the evolution of the theories and techniques from the major schools of classic family therapy, integrating them with practical clinical approaches from the field of art therapy.

Published August 15th 2007 by Routledge.

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The Role of Religion in Marriage and Family Counseling

• Edited by Jill Duba Onedera

Religion can play a vital role in the way people relate to each other, particularly with interpersonal dynamics within a family. The role of a couple or family’s religion(s) in the counseling room is no less important. This book provides practitioners with an overview of the principles of the major world religions, with specific focus on how each religion can influence family dynamics, and how best to incorporate this knowledge into effective practice with clients.

Published July 19th 2007 by Routledge.

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Infidelity

A Practitioner’s Guide to Working with Couples in Crisis

• Edited by Paul R. Peluso

When one partner in a relationship is unfaithful to the other, it takes a lot of work by both parties involved to salvage the relationship. In today’s therapy-friendly climate, marriage/couples counseling is often a part of that rebuilding process. Many couples seek out professional therapy after an affair is out in the open, but often the act of infidelity is revealed while uncovering and discussing unrelated issues for which the couple is in counseling. And yet, amazingly, as common as this complex and difficult topic arises in therapy, there is relatively little professional literature devoted to understanding and "treating" infidelity.

In this volume, Paul Peluso has assembled a truly impressive list of contributors from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, including marital therapy, family therapy, evolutionary psychology, marriage research, and cyberstudies, with the aim of filling this void.

Published June 15th 2007 by Routledge.

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Engaging Children in Family Therapy

Creative Approaches to Integrating Theory and Research in Clinical Practice

• Edited by Catherine Ford Sori

A common question at the initial meeting of a family therapist and a new client(s) is often whether or not to include a child or children in the counseling sessions. The inclusion of a child in the family therapy process often changes the dynamic between client and therapist -- and between the clients themselves -- within the context of the counseling sessions. And yet, although this is such a common experience, many counselors and family therapists are not adequately equipped to advise parents on whether to include a child in therapy sessions. Once the child does make an appearance in the counseling session, the therapist is faced with the challenges inherent in caring for a child, in addition to many concerns due to the unique circumstance of the structured therapy. Counseling a child in the context of a family therapy session is a specific skill that has not received the attention that it deserves.

This book is intended as a guide for both novice and experienced counselors and family therapists, covering a wide range of topics and offering a large body of information on how to effectively counsel children and their families. It includes recent research on a number of topics including working with children in a family context, the exclusion of children from counseling, and counselor training methods and approaches, the effectiveness of filial play therapy, the effects of divorce on children, and ADHD. Theoretical discussion is given to different family therapy approaches including family play therapy and filial play therapy. Central to the text are interviews with leaders in the field, including Salvador Minuchin, Eliana Gil, Rise VanFleet and Lee Shilts. A chapter devoted to ethical and legal issues in working with children in family counseling provides a much-needed overview of this often overlooked topic. Chapters include discussion of specific skills relevant to child counseling in the family context, case vignettes and examples, practical tips for the counselor, and handouts for parents.

Published June 27th 2006 by Routledge.

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Counseling and Family Therapy with Latino Populations

Strategies that Work

• Edited by Robert L. Smith, R. Esteban Montilla

For the Latino population, the family bond is powerful and enduring. Family serves as the primary source of support, care, guidance, and healing; all difficulties that arise for an individual are surmounted together. Therefore, a practitioner working with a Latino client must gain the trust and respect of the family in order to carry out treatment efficiently. He or she must essentially become a part of that family to encourage members to share their issues without the concern of breaching the confidence of the family.

Counseling and Family Therapy with Latino Populations helps the therapist to join the Latino family in order to identify and explore the difficulties that threaten their welfare. With this fundamental principle as the basis, the book's editors and contributors write chapters that focus on work with children and adolescents, group counseling and substance abuse counseling. They incorporate specific case studies, methods, and strategies for intervention and provide insight into the cultural relevance behind each example. This book is a necessary resource for therapists working with Latino clients who wish to offer effective techniques while continuing to value the integrity of family tradition.

Published December 16th 2005 by Routledge.

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Assessment of Couples and Families

Contemporary Cutting Edge Strategies

• By Len Sperry

Assessment of Couples and Families considers the impact of recent changes on the assessment process and provide practitioners with a review of contemporary techniques and the means by which they can be implemented into practice in conjunction with new reporting inventories and observational methods. These new assessment strategies will be presented collaterally with case material that addresses a specific problem, such as family violence or marital suitability. This unique problem focus will provide practitioners with a handy point of reference to acquaint themselves with modern practice techniques that address issues new to the therapy session while providing a supplement to coursework on assessment.

Published July 21st 2004 by Routledge.

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Treating Families and Children in the Child Protective System

Strategies for Systemic Advocacy and Family Healing

• By Wes Crenshaw

Written by a psychologist who has worked with families and foster children for 11 years, Treating Families and Children in the Child Protective System is designed for therapists, social workers, family preservationists, court officers, attorneys, judges, and others caught up in the interplay of child protection. Using theory and compelling case studies, the author posits child abuse as an ultimate form of family injustice, requiring intervention at every level of the system. The author proposes a critically optimistic stance, approaching each case as a family-friend with practical and powerful tools to direct the overwhelming power of the system into a force for the restoration of family justice.

Published March 25th 2004 by Routledge.

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Global Perspectives in Family Therapy

Development, Practice, Trends

• Edited by Kit S. Ng

Global Perspectives in Family Therapy: Development, Practice, Trends provides an overview of the development of the family and the issues and concerns they are faced with in different cultural contexts. Contributions from experts in the field expand on the different aspects on the historical beginnings, current developments, training issues, theoretical variations, future trends, and research potential in family therapy throughout 14 countries. It explores the diverse cultural approach to family therapy and suggests various clinical interventions that are helpful to clinicians dealing with families from different countries, including case studies, vignettes and research outcomes of family therapy overseas.

Published January 24th 2003 by Routledge.

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Attachment and Family Systems

Conceptual,Empirical and Therapeutic Relatedness

• Edited by Phyllis Erdman, Tom Caffery

IAttachment and Family Systems is a cogent and compelling text addressing the undeniable overlap between two systems of thought that deal with the nature of interpersonal relationships and how these impact functioning. In this enlightening work, leading thinkers in the field apply attachment theory within a systemic framework to a variety of life cycle transitional tasks and clinical issues.

Published November 8th 2002 by Routledge.

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