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AVOIDING A COMMON PITFALL IN COMPULSORY SCHOOL REFERRALS
Author(s) -
Colapinto Jorge
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1988.tb01651.x
Subject(s) - teamwork , family therapy , psychology , function (biology) , psychotherapist , medicine , developmental psychology , political science , law , biology , evolutionary biology
When a family is compulsorily referred by the school for therapy, treatment failure often ensues if the family therapist, ignoring the probability of a powerful conflict between family and school, focuses prematurely on family dynamics. An alternative approach to such cases is proposed, based on questioning the “function of the symptom” notion, acknowledging the parents' predicament vis‐à‐vis the school problem, and conceptualizing therapy as the development of better teamwork.