Premium
Family Therapy is Just One Option
Author(s) -
Foote Wendy
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1111/j.0814-723x.1999.00135.x
Subject(s) - family therapy , context (archaeology) , psychotherapist , feeling , distress , trace (psycholinguistics) , psychology , social psychology , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , biology
I trace my development as a family therapist from being a single model worker in systemic family therapy to a more eclectic approach. The context of my work is children's services and private practice. Failure to appreciate when one method of therapy is more suitable than another can lead to family therapy being applied when it is not indicated. The dangers in such mistakes and a lack of careful assessment that includes the ‘feeling state’ of the therapist are illustrated by case vignettes. A possible effect of some therapy techniques is to create a ‘distance’ from clients and to shield the therapist from their emotional distress. I outline situations where I would not use family therapy.