This report offers a theoretical approach to the study of family adaptation to stress. Major works pertaining to family theory, research, and stress, published since 1979, are explored as a theoretical framework, and three conclusions are drawn from these sources: (1) Hill's ABCX model of family stress still influences family stress research; (2)…

Proposes a theoretical and practical hybrid model for family counseling based on integrating the rational-emotive and family systems approach. Notes that these combined approaches offer the counselor a systematic theoretical structure for conceptualizing family dysfunction, from which additional strategies for changing inappropriate belief systems…

Using wife battering as a representative presenting problem, this paper presents an interactional, systematic framework of the therapist's management of clients who are involved in life-threatening situations, e.g., cases including suicidal threats, drug abuse, alcoholism, or child or spouse abuse. Several linear-causal theories of addressing…

Develops a detailed profile of dysfunction and disablement in the open family system: its intrinsic defects, response to crisis, and likely process of breakdown when overstressed. Suggests that somatic symptoms of stress in children may grow out of accelerated independence combined with parental overinvolvement. (JAC)

Presents a strategy for intervening into rigidly homeostatic family systems. Identifies system rules which reveal "nodal" themes. Describes four types of nodal themes and clues for identifying them within families. Suggests ways of using system rules and nodal themes in developing paradoxical interventions. (Author/RC)

A heuristic model is presented for the diagnosis and treatment of families in stress. A systems approach and psychoanalytic concepts are integrated to understand and modify dysfunctional behavior transmitted across generations. (Author)

Because abuse affects all members of an abusive family, the entire family system must be assessed and treated. A three-phase comprehensive assessment and treatment model is proposed that includes individual, marital, sibling, and family dynamics. This combination of treatment approaches culminates in conjoint family therapy. (Author)

The 22 articles of this special issue focus on families with mentally, physically or emotionally disabled family members and discuss the importance of viewing the family as a system. Research studies and literature reviews report on family reaction, stress variables and coping techniques, placement decisions, and policy recommendations. (JAC)

This paper describes the application of a systems approach model to assessing families with a labeled noncompliant child. The first section describes and comments on the applied methodology for the model. The second section describes the classification of 61 families containing a child labeled by the family as noncompliant. An analysis of data…

A brief review of systems theory provides a rationale for an underlying theoretical model within which systems theory can be more completely understood. The essence of the model is that persons are the major unit of study because the available means of satisfying "basic needs" define and shape interaction patterns in the family as in other human…

Family conservation is a new approach for strengthening nuclear families on a system level. The family communiversity is an agency developed to effect that approach. A discussion of family conservation on the systems level concerns the need for coping with those forces detrimental to families. The objective of family conservation is to maximize…

Recent developments in family stress and coping research and a review of data and observations of families in a war-induced crisis situation led to an investigation of the relationship between a stressor and family outcomes. The study, based on the Double ABCX Model in which A (the stressor event) interacts with B (the family's crisis-meeting…

This paper outlines a family systems model for treating incestuous families and discusses strategies for working effectively with families who remain intact after disclosure or who attempt to reunite after a separation. This systems model suggests that incest results not from intrapsychic problems of the victim or the offender, but from a pattern…

Presents a model for understanding relationships between family functioning and children's school disorders. Five transactional patterns are identified as supporting a school disturbance: enmeshment, overprotectiveness, rigidity, lack of conflict resolution, and child intrusion in marital conflict. Treatment suggestions are provided, with emphasis…

A child's school disorder can, and most often does, exist within the complexity of the family's transactional patterns and must be dealt with in this context. To do so, a conceptual model of family dynamics is needed. Minuchin (1979) offers a theoretical framework to help structure such a model. He and his colleagues identified five common…