A Family Approach to Psychiatric Disorders

A Family Approach to Psychiatric Disorders reflects the remarkable changes in both psychiatry and family therapy over the past several decades. As Lyman C. Wynne, M.D., Ph.D., states in the Foreword, the book forges together psychiatric diagnosis and family therapy, bridging a gap created by the erroneous belief that these two realms are somehow incompatible. Rather than being blamed for the patient's illness, the family is treated as a focus for concern, study, and understanding. A chapter on family therapy is presented for each of the major DSM-IV disorders. The book also covers important but often neglected topics such as intimacy, emotions, countertransference traps, gender, ethnicity, and family loyalty.

Trainees as well as seasoned mental health professionals will find this text indispensable when working with families of patients with psychiatric disorders. Family and individual therapists will find it equally valuable. By demonstrating a perspective that looks beyond an individual's presenting symptoms and by shedding light on the impact of the individual's problems on the rest of the family, A Family Approach to Psychiatric Disorders offers all practitioners the opportunity to increase their clinical effectiveness.

Richard A. Perlmutter, M.D., is Senior Psychiatrist at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Towson, Maryland, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. He is also an Approved Supervisor, American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists; and a member of the American Family Therapy Academy.