The efficacy of group therapy as a counselling method is examined. Factors that reinforce the effectiveness of group therapy include the necessity of communication amongst the human species, the longevity of the practice of group work in the field of therapy, and the empirical research suggesting the success of the method. Barriers to the success…

Counselors often engage in conflict mediation in professional practice. A model for understanding the complex and subtle nature of conflict resolution is presented. The ecosystemic complexity theory of conflict is offered to assist practitioners in navigating the fog of conflict. Theoretical assumptions are discussed with implications for clinical…

Tying a yellow ribbon around the tree in one's front yard or placing a magnet on one's car is more than just a show of support. It is a promise to American military around the world that one is ready and able to support them in their time of need just as they have supported the country. Educators, including school psychologists, are especially…

The purpose of this article is to describe the needs of service members and their families who have fought or are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and who have sustained psychological and/or physical injuries and how counseling psychologists can help. The focus is twofold: (a) to help the reader better understand those who have served and how what…

Counselors aspiring to cultural sensitivity are directed to consider multiple factors, and to become aware of personal value stances and what implications these values may have for counseling practice. This article focuses on society's pronatal biases by exploring the stereotypes ascribed to child-free families, by reviewing the professional…

Working with families through a systematic model requires the therapist to reach out to allied professionals who have a vested interest in and may be able to make a valuable contribution to the assessment and treatment plan for a given family. The school and its professional staff can serve as an invaluable resource to the family therapist.…

Counselors working in the areas of marriage and family counseling and therapy are expected to work effectively with couples and families experiencing a variety of issues and problems. Structural, strategic, and transgenerational family therapists may seem to be operating in similar manners, and it appears that many practicing family therapists go…

Contends that men use battering to silence women; that women, once abused, are unlikely to speak honestly in situations, such as family therapy, where doing so invites re-abuse. Sees therapists as rarely perceiving, labeling, or dealing effectively with male violence toward women. Urges therapists to learn to detect abuse, separate couple, and…

Clarifies paradoxical treatment by reducing it to two major sets of issues: positive reframing and control. After consideration of certain paradoxes about control, guidelines to achieve control are given. The notion of control is considered within the context of positive reframing. (BH)

For more than half a decade, the author edited a quarterly ethics column focusing on family work, first in the "International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors Newsletter" and later in "The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families." These columns responded to ethical dilemmas in family work…

The author draws a parallel between the psychological stages of adjustment a newly blinded individual goes through and the stages of adjustment experienced by the parents of a blind child. (Author/SB)

The recent media coverage of child sexual abuse charges involving priests is likely to trigger various needs among the public for professional services. Family therapists with expertise in human sexuality should use such reports to promote a fuller understanding of all aspects of sexuality for individuals and families. (Contains 15 references.)…

Marriage and family counselors can play important roles for both the person with schizophrenia and his or her family. This article provides a resource for family counselors that includes a clinically relevant summary of the schizophrenia literature, its associated family burden, and applicable interventions and issues. (Contains 64 references.)…

Describes the therapist as an active participant in the construction of the therapeutic system, explaining how the therapist constructs complex relationships within the evolving therapeutic process. Reevaluates the importance of the individual in the family as an agent of change and as a mediator of triangular relational messages. (Author/NB)

Notes that how school counselor presents concept of family therapy to parents often determines whether or not family will accept referral. Presents three general approaches to refer to family therapy, suggesting that which approach is used should be geared to family needs and dynamics. Discusses referral with maximum cooperation, referral with…