Intensive Structural Therapy: Treating Families in Their Social Context

Families today are assailed on all fronts by the profound changes, such as the decline of real wages and the loss in many industries of job security, that have shaken society over the past forty years and forced the monolithic family structure to take on a multitude of new forms, including the now-common dual-income family and the single-parent family. With families now more dependent on outside institutions for help and support—from the day care center to social services to neighbors and friends—family therapy needs a model of intervention that is capable of dealing with the new role these outside institutions and their representatives play in the life of the family.In this groundbreaking book, H. Charles Fishman takes this next logical step in the evolution of the treatment of families and details how to assess the broader system supporting and affecting the family and how to intervene effectively. Assessment techniques show how to decide which people and institutions (such as siblings, friends, co-workers, employers, social workers, teachers, clergy) need to be incorporated into the treatment. Fishman outlines how and when representatives of these outside institutions should meet with the therapist and the family. Rich case examples extensively illustrate principles of intervention for working within the family’s context and for identifying who or what is maintaining the dysfunction of the family system.A concluding section reveals that altruism, a side of human nature too easily forgotten or dismissed, is the driving force behind the cooperative spirit regularly shown by participants in intensive structural therapy. This surprising finding is sure to inspire all who help families deal with the stresses of life today.

Dr. H. CHARLES FISHMAN, M.D., has been practicing general, child, and adolescent psychiatry for over 35 years. He has extensive experience with family systems and family therapy techniques and has published numerous books and articles for both academic and general audiences, including four bestselling books: Family Therapy Techniques, with Salvador Minuchin, Harvard University Press, 1981; Treating Troubled Adolescents, Basic Books, 1989; Evolving Models of Family Change, Guilford Press, 1986, with Dr. Bernice Rosman; and Intensive Structural Therapy, Basic Books, 1993. In 2004, he published Enduring Change in Eating Disorders: Lessons From Long Term Follow-ups, Rutledge. In addition, he has presented more than 200 lectures on a range of family therapy models and their application to treatment. Dr. Fishman is currently Clinical Director at the Youthlink Family Trust (New Zealand) and NZ Eating Disorder Specialists, Ltd. Associate Clinical Professor, University of Hawaii School of Medicine