This paper reviews family therapy with chronically dysfunctional families including the development of family therapy and current trends which appear to give little guidance toward working with severely dysfunctional families. A theoretical stance based upon the systems approach to family functioning and pathology is presented which suggests: (1)…

The problems of doing family therapy in any mental health setting are well-known. Trying to get a program of family therapy established in a state hospital has its own share of problems. But it also has its payoffs. This presentation describes the establishment of a family therapy program in one state hospital, highlighting the problems and…

Describes how imagery can lead couples to more constructive perspectives on their Interactions, e.g., when progress in therapy sessions focused on a couple's (family's) communication slows down, therapists can encourage couples to try imagery to understand interactional patterns within their own developmental periods. Provides examples of…

Reports the development of a scale for evaluating family therapist skills. All items discriminated significantly between videotaped segments of effective and ineffective family therapist skills and between experienced and inexperienced family therapists. Interrater reliability and internal consistency of the categories were acceptable. The scale…

Describes the development of an instrument designed to evaluate the effectiveness of family therapy training. The device consists of a videotape of an enacted family therapy session and a series of multiple-choice questions regarding the respondents' observations, conceptualizations and recommendations. A sample question is included. (Author/JAC)