Len Sperry, Jon Carlson, and Paul R. Peluso

This new edition is comprehensive, clinically relevant, and thoroughly up-to-date. Since the publication of the first edition fourteen years ago, couples therapy—driven, in part, by managed care’s requirements for accountability—has become increasingly integrative and research-based. This recognition is reflected in a number of new and powerful approaches and methods that are significantly impacting clinical practice and treatment results.

These and other developments are incorporated into the second edition, which is nearly twice as long as the first. Couples Therapy retains a balance between the theoretical and the clinical, with ample description of techniques and methods and compelling case examples that illustrate theory and technique. Mental health professionals, family counselors, social workers, and other professionals will find this book to be a valuable resource in working with the changing pattern of the clinical practice of couples therapy.

Special Features

• Panoramic view of changing social and cultural trends that influence the institution of marriage
• Covers new ideas for resolving distress in intimate relationships
• Includes assessment and intervention strategies that work
• Practical techniques for working with domestic violence, substance abuse, and conflict resolution
• Explores the elements of relational ethics for professionals in the field

Contents

1. Psychological and Contextual Factors in Couples Relationships
2. Functional and Dysfunctional Couples Relationships
3. Biological and Neurological Factors in Couples Relationships
4. Insight-Oriented Approaches to Couples Therapy
5. Cognitive–Behavioral Approaches to Couples Therapy
6. Structural, Strategic, and Other Systemic Approaches to Couples Therapy
7. Adlerian and Constructivist Approaches to Couples Therapy
8. Affective Approaches to Couples Therapy
9. Integrative Approaches to Couples Therapy
10. Assessment in Couples Therapy
11. Intervention in Couples Therapy
12. Clinical Issues in Couples Therapy: Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence
13. Clinical Issues in Couples Therapy: Sexual Dysfunction, Separation, and Divorce
14. Research and Couples Therapy
15. Professional and Ethical Practice of Couples Therapy
16. Training, Supervision, Licensure, and the Practice of Couples Therapy in the 21st Century

0602/448 pages/2005
Paperback
ISBN 0-89108-315-4
$65.00

This well-respected text provides an exciting and unparalleled approach to family therapy. The book is the first 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.

The third edition to this best-selling text is expanded to help families handle pressing issues such as Alzheimer’s disease, HIV, and chronic medical problems, and address the needs of rural families and families with gifted children. The unique organizational approach demonstrates the importance of employing systems theories while never undermining the relationship between client and therapist.

The first part of the book is dedicated to the development of the family therapy movement, which is informed not only by systems based theories buy 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, and humanistic, existential, and transpersonal theories. The third part includes updated discussions on special needs families, professional issues and ethics, plus a chapter on conflict resolution and a separate chapter on research in family counseling.

Special Features

• 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.
• Presents twenty case studies to illustrate systems theories.

Contents

Part I: Introducing and Understanding Marriage and Family Therapy

1. Counseling Families: An Introduction
2. The Family as a System
3. From Individual Counseling to Marriage and Family Therapy: Building Theoretical Bridges
4. Using Core Counseling Skills in Marriage and Family Therapy

Part II: Helping Couples and Families: Bridging Individual and Systems Theories

5. Psychodynamic Theories in Family Treatment
6. Psychodynamic Systems Theories
7. Cognitive/Behavioral Theories in Family Treatment
8. Cognitive/Behavioral Systems Theories
9. Humanistic, Existential, and Transpersonal Theories in Family Treatment
10. Humanistic, Existential and Transpersonal Systems Theories

Part III: Special Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy

11. Conflict Resolution in Family Treatment
12. Treating Families With Special Needs
13. Research in Marriage and Family Therapy
14. Professional Issues and Ethics

448 pages
2003/hardback/ISBN 0-89108-300-6
$66.00

This text provides a concise overview of several popular systemic approaches to family therapy using a consistent format. This enables readers to quickly identify similarities and differences among the models. The audience will be counseling and social work graduate students in family systems and in marriage and family therapy classes. Clinicians in practice and professionals preparing for licensure examinations will also find this book to be very helpful.

Recent research findings on models of family therapy are included. The first chapter now includes a brief discussion of first- and second- order cybernetic models plus an overview of family therapy outcome research. Each chapter starts with a list of key terms designed to serve as an advanced organizer for readers.

Narrative family therapy has been expanded, along with descriptive summaries of emotionally focused therapy, multi-systemic therapy, and feminist family therapy.

Special Features

• Comprehensive coverage of eight major models of MFT at a glance
• Each model contains same easy-to-read outline format
• Designed to use as review for licensing and graduate comprehensive exams

Contents

1. Overview of Family Therapy Models
2. Communication/Validation Family Therapy
3. Bowenian Theory
4. Structural Family Therapy
5. Strategic Family Therapy
6. Milan Systemic Family Therapy
7. Adlerian Family Therapy
8. Solution Focused Family Therapy
9. Narrative Family Therapy
10. Integrative Family Therapy
11. Descriptive Summary of Other Models

176 pages
2002
paperback/ISBN 0-89108-297-2
$32.00

This classic book covers the changing marital scene with specifics regarding family structure, style of marriage, divorce, remarriage, and child-rearing practices. Social and cultural changes and trends are examined.

The authors suggest a "couple-centered" approach to marital therapy and discuss ways to deal with anger, conflict, and choices, and emphasize the importance of communication skills. The text also addresses the biological and psychosocial dynamics of marriage and introduces theoretical orientations to marital therapy. It provides you with a specific, workable treatment process, including assessment and intervention strategies.

Contents

Part One: Introduction

1. Psychosocial Factors in Marital Functioning
2. Health and Marital Functioning
3. The Nature of Functional and Dysfunctional Marriages

Part Two: Theoretical Approaches to Marital Therapy

4. Psychoanalytic Approaches to Marital Therapy
5. Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches to Marital Therapy
6. Strategic, Structural, and Systemic Approaches to Marital Therapy
7. Integrative Approaches to Marital Therapy

Part Three: Treatment Technique of Marital Therapy

8. The Treatment Process in Marital Therapy
9. Assessment in Marital Therapy
10. Intervention Strategies
11. Common Problems and Issues in Marriage

Part Four: Research and Professional Issues in Marital Therapy

12. Research in Marital Therapy
13. Professional and Ethical Issues
14. Marriage Therapy Case

260 pages
1991/paperback/ISBN 0-89108-215-8
$34.95

This book focuses on marital and couple relationship enhancement with a theoretical base of systems theory. The authors take the position that successful relationships are firmly grounded in strong, caring, nurturing behaviors and thus have focused on ways to facilitate such behaviors with the result that they’ve produced a gem of a book full of exercises to break down barriers and teach lasting skills.

The exercises for interpersonal growth in Hot Chocolate…provide experiences based on realistic situations and make role-playing easy. You'll find exercises on touching, love, grief, conflict resolution, guilt, genograms, and much, much more.

114 pages
1994/paperback/ISBN 0-89108-233-6
$14.95