Coping with the impact of a family member's head injury is one of the most difficult tasks that can confront a family. An overview of head injury etiology, sequelae, and impact on families is presented. Provides guidelines for counseling families of persons with head injuries and suggestions for research. (Author/JBJ)

Addresses the usefulness of Relationship Enhancement (RE) therapy as a method for working with "narcissistic vulnerability" in couple relationships. This method provides a structured framework for communication in which persons who have historically experienced inadequate empathy observe and practice empathic accuracy. A case example is…

Paralleling reports of the effects of passive smoke exposure in medical journals, the term "secondary traumatization"--the emotional upset experienced by persons who come into close contact with a trauma victim--is receiving increasing attention in the mental health literature. Implications of this for family counselors are considered. (Author/KW)

Couples whose early wounds cause narcissistic and borderline defenses may benefit from treatment with a psychodynamically oriented couples therapist. This article presents a treatment method that helps partners become attuned to each other's underlying injuries and vulnerabilities. The goal is to rebuild damaged structures of the self and to…

Discusses the importance of understanding the presenting problem of a stepfamily seeking counseling. Notes that proper assessment includes an understanding of family structure and context, parent- and stepparent-child relationships, and nonresidential parent-child relationships. Includes case study and the use of genograms to depict complex…

Examines a theoretical framework in which therapeutic forgiveness is conceptualized as a four-station process of insight, understanding, giving the opportunity for compensation, and overt forgiving. Discusses definition of forgiveness and how the framework is applied to family therapy. (JBJ)

A case study of Relationship Enhancement (RE) therapy with a couple, in which the woman was identified as having vaginismus, is presented including excerpts of transcripts from the therapy sessions. RE's effectiveness at improving communication skills and providing structure in which the couple could discuss the intimate issues affecting the…

The intergenerational family therapy method of genogram construction may be a useful technique for increasing levels of differentiation in clients with a lesbian sexual orientation. Provides a description, rationale, and illustration of how genogram construction may be used by family counselors to treat lesbian clients. (JBJ)

Solution-oriented therapy models emphasize client and family competencies. This paper takes assumptions common to solution-oriented therapies and develops a collaborative guideline for supervision that is isomorphic to these models, discusses a conceptual map for solution oriented supervision, describes assumptions of solution-oriented…

Addresses ethical guidelines that can help marriage and family counseling graduate program faculty deal with applicants who have been former clients of faculty. The consensus of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors' Ethics Committee is that vetoing such applicants is unethical. (JBJ)

Efforts to organize diverse and often competing family therapy approaches point to a variety of ideas about clinical practice. Myriad conceptual viewpoints reveal how sensitivity to multicultural factors is consistent with recent contextual and relational emphases. A detailed case study illustrates the advantages of drawing from an interactionist…

Addresses the many ways in which rituals can be useful in understanding and working therapeutically with stepfamilies. Rituals allow for multiple meanings and new ways of understanding and doing things and provide an array of therapeutic possibilities for therapist and family. (JBJ)

Explores the concept of "attachment" from the perspectives of love and work; marriage, parenting, and child development; triangles and the family emotional field; and evaluation instruments. (Author/JBJ)

Reviews the section on supervision in the "Ethical Code for the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors" and a recent article from the family counseling literature that provides a schema for more specific direction, thus enhancing the ethical code. (JBJ)

Examines the use of the couple relationship to address the effects of childhood sexual abuse of one or both of the partners, discusses the issues facing couples, and presents therapeutic guidelines for working with such couples. Reviews related work in the field and methods for treating couples facing other traumas. Reviews available resources.…