The renaissance of family therapy?

A major theme at the recent Australian Association Family Therapy conference in Perth in October 2012 was how to define the discipline of family therapy, what it is and isn’t, the limits and boundaries of its practice and profession and the extent to which core systemic thinking and practices have been integrated into other mental health and therapy approaches. One interesting question is how much do we gain, and risk, as family therapy is taken to a wider audience as an evidence-based or familysensitive practice in mental health, psychology or psychiatry? Perhaps we have adapted so well to changing times and trends that we risk losing our radical voice and identity? Indeed does family therapy have a final chapter in its narrative, and here I am mindful of Cechhin, Ray and Lane’s (1994) wonderful story of the ‘the last family therapist’, unable to exit the field and retire gracefully, as meetings, conferences, workshops, writing and the reading of books and articles, go on. Alternatively is family therapy like the proverbial phoenix rising anew from the ashes, regenerating into something new that for now we only see as ‘through a glass darkly’? Are we possibly witnessing a renaissance in the tapestry of family therapy theory and practice as we take its message to a more general audience? Heady questions indeed, and in many ways the articles in this issue all resonate with these themes, as they reflect on the creative effectiveness of the ‘open dialogues’ approach in helping persons with serious mental health issues, examine the contribution of systemic and collaborative approaches in therapeutic assessment and outcome research, illustrate how to engage relational healing in an adult attachment interview, explore the possibilities for family work/therapy in aged psychiatry and dialogue about possible links between systemic and psychoanalysis, therapy and spirituality. To begin Judith Brown in her article Theory, practice and use of self in the open dialogues approach to family therapy: A simple complexity or a complex simplicity? takes us on an informative, intimate and reflective journey into open dialogues. This is based on her recent study tour to the outpatient adult mental health unit in Keropudas Hospital in Tornio, Western Lapland, Finland, where the approach originated, and the associated child and adolescent polyclinics at Tornio and Kemi, where she had a unique opportunity to observe clinical sessions and participate in dialogue with team members. In a triptych paper that weaves together images and descriptions from her reflective journal with pointed observations about clinical practice and the therapist’s use of self, the paper presents three major themes of Joining Together, Drawing Close and Being With. It explores the seven theoretical principles of the open dialogue approach and illustrates its increasing relevance for family therapists, not just for those working with psychosis in acute adult mental health but across a variety of practice settings. Continuing this dialogue there is an affirming reflection on Judith’s article, Visiting Open Dialogues, from Markku Sutela who is Chief Psychologist at Keopudas Hospital, on the Senior Faculty at the Institute for Dialogic Practice and co-author with Jaakko Seikkula of several key articles on Open Dialogues.