Counseling Families : An Introduction to Marriage and Family Therapy (3 Revised edition)

This well-respected text provides an exciting and unparalleled approach to family therapy. "Counseling Families" is the first book of its kind to endorse a training process that links individual and group counseling theories and practices to those used in marriage and family therapy.

This new edition to the best-selling text is expanded to help families handle pressing issues such as Alzheimer's disease, HIV, and chronic medical problems.

The unique organizational approach demonstrates the importance of employing systems theories while never undermining the relationship between client and therapist.

The first part of "Counseling Families" is dedicated to the development of the family therapy movement, which is informed not only by systems-based theories but also by the 12 core counseling skills used with individuals and groups.

This relationship is further emphasized in the second part of the book, which describes psychodynamic, cognitive/behavioral, humanistic, existential, and transpersonal theories. The third part includes updated discussions on special needs families, and professional issues and ethics, plus a chapter on conflict resolution and a separate chapter on research in family counseling.

This book: fosters important skill development for more effective, well-rounded counselors; links individual and group counseling theories to the most closely related systems theories; addresses the concerns of special needs families using the latest research; and presents twenty case studies to illustrate systems theories.