Assessing Families and Couples: From Symptom to System

by Salvador Minuchin, Michael Nichols, Wai Yung Lee

A step-by-step guide to assessing couples and families, this text offers a clear delineation of the process of family therapy through richly illustrated case material, featuring clients from a diversity of backgrounds Appealing to both experienced and novel therapists, "Assessing Families and Couples" portrays a clear picture of what occurs in a two-session model in conducting a family therapy assessment. In the absence of a videotape to depict the process of therapy, readers can still visualize the details of the therapeutic journey in a step-by-step manner. Students and instructors, alike, will find this book an invaluable tool for the learning and teaching of family therapy assessment. The text begins with a brief historical review of family therapy today and continues with a detailed explanation of the authors' four-step assessment model. The assessment model is illustrated by a series of thoroughly detailed case studies, featuring African-American, European, Latin-American, Spanish, Irish, and Chinese families.

Genres: Psychology

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2006

Reviews

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finalizando essa leitura que demorou, mas valeu muito a pena!

Salvador Minuchin é um grande nome na terapia familiar, e nesse livro, traz 10 histórias de famílias que foram atendidas por ele ao longo de sua trajetória como psicoterapeuta.

Os casos relatados exploravam várias faixas etárias, situações familiares distintas e culturas. Famílias restituídas, famílias enfrentando o tratamento de substâncias, famílias enfrentando transtornos psicológicos de um ou mais membros, adolescência, infância, questões conjugais e por aí vai... é uma riqueza enorme de informações, pois ele realmente relata as sessões e como elas funcionavam.

Ele ensina nesse livro sobre o modelo de quatro etapas para acessar famílias e casais:
1. Ampliar a queixa apresentada
2. Destacae o problema - interações mantenedoras
3. Investigar o passado com foco na estrutura
4. Descobrir e criar juntos formas alternativas das relações
E esse modelo faz todo sentido e ficou muito claro de entender com todos os exemplos que ele trouxe!

Gostei muito da forma que o autor conversa com o leitor no livro, mostrando pensamentos que tinha no meio das sessões, ideias de perguntas diferentes que quis fazer, e também mostrando como o terapeuta é humano, comete erros e acertos, e com o estudo e a prática a intervenção vai ficando mais clara. Nunca automática, pois cada família será diferente. Mas, sim, direcionada para conseguir auxiliar as pessoas.

Maravilhoso! Aprendi muito, para alguem que está no início de suas práticas clínicas e agora começando a atender famílias também, esse livro foi rico de informações.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a quick note on my experience with the book—I found the book to be very insightful and I appreciated how it rocked my view of therapy. I definitely found the style to be quite abrasive and shocking as I read because I tend to have softer challenges and use more connected rapport. And yet I do also appreciate the directness and the drastic bids to change family structure—it certainly expanded my lens and how I view my role and the possibilities of that role. Last side note—take the book with a grain of salt, there are some offensive or outdated ways of viewing things.

[Caroline Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for a class in Marriage and Family Counseling. Just reading this book has made me a better counselor. I love how Minuchin points out what is obvious to the counselor, and completely hidden from the families. Watching the light dawn for them is awesome.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[MizzSandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good insight into family therapy from a narrative systemic perspective.

It gives you casestories with written transcripts of the interaction and Minuchins observations and reasoning for w´hat he does a long the way and how he interprets the whole thing, which I found very useful and interesting. And you get to see up close how he frames his questions and moves forward in the whole process.

I liked that he even included a case that was an example that he felt he wasn't proud of, and he should have acted differently, to show the readers how easily it is to go wrong, and how you in hindsight get another perspective of your own errors.

definately a good read if you are interested in or curious about therapy and narrative/systemic practise.