Seselelame: feelings in the body: working alongside systemic ideas
This article explores the way I use my cultural heritage as a tool to expand upon and develop skills in working with families, and how I then experience my position as a systemic therapist, interweaving systemic ideas and the intimacies of my own cultural heritage I examine the differences and similarities between systemic knowledge and practice, and African oral traditional ideas. Reclaiming my cultural heritage is the focus of this article and I explore the useful contribution it can make in the systemic field. Practical examples are given to illustrate the applicability of the ideas.
Practitioner points
African oral tra...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - July 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Julia Jude Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Parent‐therapist alliance and parent attachment‐promoting behaviour in attachment‐based family therapy for suicidal and depressed adolescents
This study examines whether the strength of the parent‐therapist alliance, measured during the task of alliance building with parents alone, predicted the extent of parents’ attachment‐promoting behaviour in the subsequent conjoint parent‐adolescent attachment task in the context of attachment‐based family therapy (ABFT). Nineteen suicidal and depressed adolescents and their parents received 12 weeks of ABFT. The parent‐therapist alliance and parents’ attachment‐promoting behaviour were each measured observationally by two separate and independent groups of raters. The findings show that the strength of the...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - July 3, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Menachem M. Feder, Gary M. Diamond Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Intensive multi‐family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa: an open study of 30 families
The article reports on an innovative treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa (AN) – intensive multi‐family therapy – in terms of symptoms, patients’ and parental psychological functioning and treatment acceptability. In all, thirty patients and their families took part in the study and were assessed at baseline, 3 and 6 months. At 6 months two‐thirds had gained sufficient weight to be in the normal weight range with significant improvements in AN cognition, mood and self‐esteem. Only two of the thirty families discontinued treatment early and both patients and parents scored high on treatment satisfaction, th...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - July 3, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Eva Salaminiou, Mari Campbell, Mima Simic, Elizabeth Kuipers, Ivan Eisler Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Family therapists’ adult attachment styles and the therapeutic alliance
Therapists’ adult attachment style may affect their ability to form effective therapeutic alliances. An analysis of semi‐structured interviews with eleven family therapists explored the relationship between their adult attachment styles, as assessed using a self‐report measure, and their perceptions of the therapeutic alliance. A framework analysis was employed, using four dimensions of the therapeutic alliance: engagement in the therapeutic process, emotional connection to the therapist, safety within the therapeutic system and shared sense of purpose within the family. Responses were compared between therapists wit...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - July 3, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Yusmarhaini Yusof, John Carpenter Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Factors related to perceived parental approval of adult sons’ and daughters’ heterosexual engagements
This study examined factors that may predict perceived parental approval of an adult child's heterosexual engagement relationship as parental approval has been shown in previous studies to be an important predictor of later couple quality and stability. A total of 4175 engaged individuals completed the RELATE inventory. Among the items in the questionnaire were measures of perceived parental approval of the relationship, parents’ marital quality, autonomy from the family of origin and couple relationship quality. The individuals also reported their age, education, length of their relationship, parents’ marital status a...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - July 3, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeffry H. Larson, Marietta Malnar, Dean Busby Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Factors related to perceived parental approval of adult sons ’ and daughters’ heterosexual engagements
This study examined factors that may predict perceived parental approval of an adult child's heterosexual engagement relationship as parental approval has been shown in previous studies to be an important predictor of later couple quality and stability. A total of 4175 engaged individuals completed the RELATE inventory. Among the items in the questionnaire were measures of perceived parental approval of the relationship, parents’ marital quality, autonomy from the family of origin and couple relationship quality. The individuals also reported their age, education, length of their relationship, parents’ marital status a...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - July 2, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeffry H. Larson, Marietta Malnar, Dean Busby Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Intensive multi ‐family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa: an open study of 30 families
The article reports on an innovative treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa (AN) – intensive multi‐family therapy – in terms of symptoms, patients’ and parental psychological functioning and treatment acceptability. In all, thirty patients and their families took part in the study and were assessed at baseline, 3 and 6 months. At 6 months two‐thirds had gained sufficient weight to be in the normal weight range with significant improvements in AN cognition, mood and self‐esteem. Only two of the thirty families discontinued treatment early and both patients and parents scored high on treatment satisfaction, th...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - July 2, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Eva Salaminiou, Mari Campbell, Mima Simic, Elizabeth Kuipers, Ivan Eisler Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Systemic innovators, past and present
(Source: Journal of Family Therapy)
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - June 23, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Reenee Singh Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
Selecting self ‐report outcome measures for use in family and systemic therapy
This article describes some of the challenges involved in the selection of self‐report outcome measures for use in family and systemic therapeutic services, and potential ways of overcoming them. It highlights factors that may undermine the demonstration of the effectiveness of services related to the characteristics of services, client groups and the measures themselves. Choosing appropriate self‐report outcome measures is particularly difficult for practitioners responding flexibly to the needs of heterogeneous client groups and those working with multiple family members. Measures need to be acceptable to both client...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - June 15, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Patricia Moran Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Family ‐of‐origin experience and emotional health as predictors of relationship self‐regulation in marriage
The purpose of this study was to understand differences in one's ability to implement relationship self‐regulation (RSR) in marriage based on the family‐of‐origin variables of parent–child relationship quality, parental marital satisfaction and current emotional health. The participants were 484 married couples who completed the relationship evaluation. Structural equation modelling was used to test a model that showed that the actor and partner's emotional health were associated with RSR in marriage, while most family‐of‐origin factors were not directly associated with RSR. However, the perceived mother–chil...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - May 7, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Matthew Brown, Jeffry Larson, James Harper, Thomas Holman Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Does partners ’ differentiation of self predict dyadic adjustment?
The present study expands on Bowen's systemic multigenerational theory to analyse the role of individual trajectories of differentiation of self in perceived dyadic adjustment in a sample of 468 Italian participants. The research also explored which aspects of differentiation of self most strongly predicted dyadic adjustment in the total sample and in male and female subsamples. The various components of differentiation of self (emotional reactivity, emotional cut‐off, emotional fusion and I‐position) and dyadic adjustment levels were investigated using the revised differentiation of self inventory — revised, and the...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - May 3, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jessica Lampis Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Selecting self‐report outcome measures for use in family and systemic therapy
This article describes some of the challenges involved in the selection of self‐report outcome measures for use in family and systemic therapeutic services, and potential ways of overcoming them. It highlights factors that may undermine the demonstration of the effectiveness of services related to the characteristics of services, client groups and the measures themselves. Choosing appropriate self‐report outcome measures is particularly difficult for practitioners responding flexibly to the needs of heterogeneous client groups and those working with multiple family members. Measures need to be acceptable to both client...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - April 1, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Patricia Moran Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Luigi Boscolo (1932–2015) and his legacy
(Source: Journal of Family Therapy)
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - April 1, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Paolo Bertrando Tags: Original article Source Type: research
Family‐of‐origin experience and emotional health as predictors of relationship self‐regulation in marriage
The purpose of this study was to understand differences in one's ability to implement relationship self‐regulation (RSR) in marriage based on the family‐of‐origin variables of parent–child relationship quality, parental marital satisfaction and current emotional health. The participants were 484 married couples who completed the relationship evaluation. Structural equation modelling was used to test a model that showed that the actor and partner's emotional health were associated with RSR in marriage, while most family‐of‐origin factors were not directly associated with RSR. However, the perceived mother–chil...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - April 1, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Matthew Brown, Jeffry Larson, James Harper, Thomas Holman Tags: Original article Source Type: research
Does partners’ differentiation of self predict dyadic adjustment?
The present study expands on Bowen's systemic multigenerational theory to analyse the role of individual trajectories of differentiation of self in perceived dyadic adjustment in a sample of 468 Italian participants. The research also explored which aspects of differentiation of self most strongly predicted dyadic adjustment in the total sample and in male and female subsamples. The various components of differentiation of self (emotional reactivity, emotional cut‐off, emotional fusion and I‐position) and dyadic adjustment levels were investigated using the revised differentiation of self inventory — revised, and the...
Source: Journal of Family Therapy - April 1, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jessica Lampis Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
