Multi-generational Family Therapy: Tools and resources for the therapist / Edition 1

by Maurizio Andolfi

Overview

Multi-generational Family Therapy reveals the limits of the medical model in treating mental and relational problems. It instead provides a toolkit for therapists, observing family functioning over at least three generations to explore the developmental history of the family in order to discover links between past trauma and broken emotional bonds, and current problems experienced by family members. Maurizio Andolfi honours the voices of children in therapy and enlists them as the key to unlocking unresolved family issues.

The book provides an experiential model of intervention that centres on creativity and humanity as the best way to build an alliance and work with a family in crisis. Demonstrating with case examples, Andolfi outlines the relational skills and inner self of the therapist, focusing on the ability to be direct, authentic and emphatic. The use of relational questioning, silence, body language, physical contact and movement in therapy are explored in depth.

Multi-generational Family Therapy will be of interest to anyone working with individuals, couples and families including child, adolescent and adult psychotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists and counsellors. It will also prove useful to private practitioners, social workers, doctors, paediatricians and educators

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138670969
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/21/2016
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Maurizio Andolfi, MD, is a child psychiatrist and a world-renowned master family therapist. He was Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University la Sapienza, Rome, and co-founder of the European Family Therapy Association, and is currently Director of the Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia Rome. Andolfi is editor of Journal Terapia Familiare and has previously published many books including Please, Help Me with This Family, (Routledge, 1994). In 2016, Andolfi received the Life Achievement award from the American Family Therapy Academy.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. THE ROOTS OF RELATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2. THE FAMILY LIFE CYCLE AND THE MULTIGENERATIONAL DIMENSION 3. SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AND NEW FAMILY FORMS 4. FAMILY OBSERVATION METHODS 5. TOWARD AN ASSESSMENT OF FAMILY FUNCTIONING 6. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE THERAPEUTIC STORY 7. THE LANGUAGE OF THE THERAPEUTIC ENCOUNTER 8. BODY LANGUAGE IN FAMILY THERAPY 9. SILENCE AND TOUCH: TWO POWERFUL WAYS TO CONNECT 10. THE HUMAN DIMENSION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY AND RESEARCH

Editorial Reviews

'This book is a treasure! I welcome it, not least because Maurizio Andolfi has an international reputation as an experienced and inspirational trainer and practitioner, but also because he revisits and reclaims the origins of family therapy and systemic practice, in their conceptual roots in multi-generational family therapy. Whether the legacies of the past are realised in the present or echoes that haunt us, Andolfi reminds us that they are ever present in our therapeutic work with families, and through his many examples from practice, he shows us how to go on.' - Arlene Vetere, PhD, Professor of family therapy and systemic practice. VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway

'This book is a treasure! I welcome it, not least because Maurizio Andolfi has an international reputation as an experienced and inspirational trainer and practitioner, but also because he revisits and reclaims the origins of family therapy and systemic practice, in their conceptual roots in multi-generational family therapy. Whether the legacies of the past are realised in the present or echoes that haunt us, Andolfi reminds us that they are ever present in our therapeutic work with families, and through his many examples from practice, he shows us how to go on.' - Arlene Vetere, PhD, Professor of family therapy and systemic practice. VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway

"This book is a good reminder for family therapists about the importance of looking into past generation patterns and how they influence the present state of a family, the importance of self-of-the-therapist work and relational questioning, and the importance of giving more space to children in family therapy" - Ileana Ungureanu, Doody's

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Ileana Ungureanu, MD, PhD, LMFT, CFTP (Adler School of Professional Psychology)
Description: This book addresses multigenerational aspects in family dynamics, going to the roots of family therapy, the systems theories foundation of the field. The author revisits aspects such as family life cycle, the use of genograms, and highlighting the importance of children's voices in family therapy.
Purpose: This book provides an approach to working with families from a multigenerational perspective, a perspective that is not necessarily at the forefront today. However, it is a needed one in a more and more fragmented and disconnected world. The author successfully presents his approach using clinical examples from his long and acclaimed career as a family therapist.
Audience: As the author says, this book is written for any professionals working with families, such us psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, counselors, psychiatrists, and family physicians. Students in graduate programs preparing to work with families also would benefit from reading this. The author is internationally recognized and acclaimed from his clinical work, training, and research in the field of family therapy, especially for his respectful and creative inclusion of children's voices in the process.
Features: True to his model, the author starts the book with a generational view of the field of family therapy, going back to the roots of the field and presenting the impact of the past on present practices. He then discusses aspects of assessment and treatment, always highlighting the relational approach both inside the family dynamics but also in the therapeutic relationship, between the therapist and the family as a client.
Assessment: This book is a good reminder for family therapists about the importance of looking into past generation patterns and how they influence the present state of a family, the importance of self-of-the-therapist work and relational questioning, and the importance of giving more space to children in family therapy. Moreover, the chapters on the importance of touch in relationships, including the therapeutic relationship, as well as body language, silence, and movement, are necessary topics that are rarely addressed in the literature.

Doody's Review Service