Family Therapy : Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice

For years, family therapy educators have emphasized a need to bridge the gap between research and practice; however, the technical and theoretical aspects carefully developed by researchers rarely become integrated into the everyday practices of family therapy professionals and clinicians. As two licensed counselors who have spent their lives balancing private practices, designing methodology, teaching students, and writing research-based articles, Gary Connell and Tammy Mitten understood the importance of writing a text that equally mixes these three aspects of theory, research, and practice.

In Family Therapy, students are introduced to the subject using a clear framework that evenly integrates research results with how family therapy is conducted. In each chapter, theoretical concepts are clearly explicated in bold print with definitions, followed by ethnographic expert interviews, real life case examples and, finally, a thorough review of relevant research on each model of family therapy explained in simple and clear prose.

This approach allows readers to become actively involved in all aspects of family therapy: developing a better understanding of families (theory), implementing a broader range of interventions (practice) and empirically validating their methods (research).