Distressed and nondistressed couples held discussions of their major marital problem. Mismatch errors or differences in intent and impact were most likely to occur when the receiver of the message evaluated the message more negatively than it was intended regardless of the group. The results provide some support for both the semantic and…

Reviews Family Concept Assessment Method (FCAM), instrument designed to measure family concept, the sum of a person's values, attitudes, and feelings regarding his or her family. Discusses FCAM reliability, administration and scoring, and clinical utility. Concludes that at least two measures (family congruence and family satisfaction scores) may…

Reviews early attempts to classify the field of family therapy, including Haley's caricatures, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry's classification, and others. The new paradigmatic model proposes a classification of the field of family therapy in terms of three therapeutic paradigms: the historical, the structure/process, and the…

Discusses how, when a child is the identified patient and family therapy is treatment, therapeutic process can be facilitated by conducting at least small number of individual sessions with child. Notes that such behavior by therapist communicates to children, parents, and involved referral sources respect for their opinions and lays groundwork…

Highlights history and features of the Federal Witness Protection Program, characteristics of individuals in the program, and factors affecting both the individuals and their relocated and abandoned families. Includes brief case history and highlights therapeutic clinical concerns when therapist's clients are participating in Federal Witness…

Compared 10 compulsive eaters and their spouses with 10 compulsive drinkers and their spouses. Interview data revealed pattern suggesting that couples were often unable to process feelings and resolve conflicts. For subject, couple relationship seemed to affect and perpetuate compulsive behavior. Results point to need to redefine construct of…

Considers families of people suffering from psychosomatic disorders from perspective of second-order cybernetics in which emphasis is on autonomy of various levels of system. Describes psychosomatic symptoms and illustrates symptoms as expression of ideas aimed at conservation of autonomy, both at individual and family level. Highlights…

Examines whether a new instrument for measuring couple functioning would differentiate couples in therapy for sexual dysfunction from couples in therapy for other problems. While the other-problems group had greater sexual satisfaction than the sex dysfunction group, the groups were similar in experiencing moderate marital distress. (JPS)

The purpose of this article is to elucidate the sources of controversy between the use of the terms Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation and to delineate the advantages and disadvantages of using either term in the context of child-custody disputes. It concludes that families are best served when the more specific term, Parental…

Determined whether spouses in nondistressed marriages show greater equity and reciprocity of exchange and a greater degree of congruence than spouses experiencing marital distress by examining interactive patterns of self-disclosing behavior using the Self-Disclosure Coding System. Within-couple reciprocity patterns revealed highly similar…

Makes a theoretical comparison between Adlerian and analytic formulations of family assessment in a case study involving a recently divorced couple and a child with encopresis. Discussed the family relationship in terms of object relations theory emphasizing intrapsychic experience, and Adlerian theory emphasizing the purposes of behavior. (JAC)

Addresses the parental alienation syndrome, which is the process by which one parent overtly or covertly speaks or acts in a derogatory manner to or about the other parent during or subsequent to a divorce proceeding, in an attempt to alienate the child or children from that other parent. (Author)

The upward or downward social class mobility of a family member can result in tensions between the individual and the rest of the family. Explores the issue of class, identifies common situations in which class tensions occur within families, and discusses clinical implications. (JPS)

Reviews the literature concerning school-family intervention, and presents a treatment model in which the therapist first interdicts, and then gradually restores school-family communication, as necessary changes are effected in both systems. (BH)

Describes what joint physical custody involves, the kinds of families who currently have this type of custody arrangement, and the effects on parents and children. Current research supporting two perspectives on joint custody, one emphasizing the continuity of psychological care from one parent, the other emphasizing the importance of the father's…