Paul, a divorced father, wants to back out of his child care arrangement and spend less time with his children.Nathan has been lying to his wife about a serious medical condition.Marsha, recently separated from her husband, cannot resist telling her children negative things about their father.What is the role of therapy in these situations? Trained to strive for neutrality and to focus strictly on the clients' needs, most therapists generally consider moral issues such as fairness, truthfulness, and obligation beyond their domain. Now, an award-winning psychologist and family therapist...

In the narrative of every human life and family, illness is a prominent character. Even if we have avoided serious illness ourselves, we cannot escape its reach into our circle of family and friends. Illness brings us closer to one another through caregiving and separates us through disability and death, yet little attention has been paid to personal and family illness in psychotherapy. Rather, therapists tend to focus on the psychosocial realm, leaving the biological realm to other physicians and nurses. Susan H. McDaniel, Jeri Hepworth, and William J. Doherty invited therapists who work...

Origins We call this book on theoretical orientations and methodological strategies in family studies a sourcebook because it details the social and personal roots (i.e., sources) from which these orientations and strategies flow. Thus, an appropriate way to preface this book is to talk first of its roots, its beginnings. In the mid 1980s there emerged in some quarters the sense that it was time for family studies to take stock of itself. A goal was thus set to write a book that, like Janus, would face both backward and forward a book that would give readers both a perspec tive on the past...

The field of medical family therapy has grown by leaps and bounds since the authors' bestselling first edition was published in 1992. In this thorough revision and update of their classic text, the authors describe the impact of recent economic and structural changes in health care on the role of the medical family therapist. They describe how medical and mental health providers can learn to speak the same language, whether they collaborate in outpatient therapy, co-location settings, community health centres, or fully-integrated health systems. They also take into account exciting new...

All couples walk to the altar dreaming of happily-ever-after, but many forces in our society work against healthy lifelong commitment. Renowned family therapist William J. Doherty reveals how cracks can develop in even a rock-solid marriage, and what steps you can take to keep your love strong. Learn ways to break free of common traps like confusing desires with needs, comparing your spouse to your fantasies of other relationships, or becoming overtime parents instead of full-time partners. You'll get suggestions for creating relationship rituals--from mundane to celebratory, sexy to...