Solving Modern Family Dilemmas

Context is the unifying principle that guides a therapist's formulation of the modern family's presenting dilemmas, functioning, relationships, and attitudes. We can no longer assume that a family is comprised of a mother, father, and children; the composition and systems a family operates within can be fluid and ever-changing, requiring an equally elastic model. The Assimilative Family Therapy Model is sensitive to the many unique contexts presented by the modern family and is shaped by the inclusion of necessary interventions to address the specific dilemmas of a client or family. In Solving Modern Family Dilemmas, readers will learn about many schools of thought and experience their integration to help heal clients through differentiation, anxiety reduction, and lowering emotional reactivity. There is also no need for readers to abandon their theoretical framework; theories, concepts, and interventions can be inserted into the model, enabling readers to create their own model of family therapy. End-of-chapter questions enable self-examination, and readers are treated to references for further exploring theories, concepts, and interventions. Family therapists, psychologists, social workers, and mental health counselors find this book essential in their work with all clients, and professors use it in courses to teach different modes of integrating theories, concepts, and interventions.

Patricia Pitta, PhD, ABPP, is a Clinical Psychologist and a Board Certified Family and Couple Psychologist. She is in private practice in Manhasset, New York, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor and Clinical Supervisor at St. John's University.

Series Foreword. Acknowledgements. Preface. Introduction. Section I: The Assimilative Family Therapy Model: An Overview 1. The Assimilative Family Therapy Model (AFT): A Model of Choice to Treat Modern Day Families 2. Know Your Family's Context: Essential Elements to Consider 3. Theories and Concepts Included in Assimilative Family Therapy Model 4. How the Assimilative Family Therapy Model Helps Heal SECTION II: Treating Child/Adolescent Centered Families: Through The Assimilative Family Therapy Model 5. Child/Adolescent Dilemmas: An Overview 6. Issues and Behaviors of Childhood 7. Adolescent Centered Dilemmas: Context and Perspectives of Adolescence 8. The Individual: LGBTQ Individuation 9. The AFT Model and Couple Therapy 10. Parenting Parents/Caretaking Spouses: A Struggle for Power, Life and Assistance Epilogue. References. Appendices