Of all the therapeutic modalities in force today, none shows greater promise for dramatic personal change than the fast-growing field of family therapy. Yet no discipline is more lacking in a unified theoretical framework.Now, in this brilliant new work, Lynn Hoffman, noted therapist and, with Jay Haley, author of "Techniques of Family Therapy" (Basic Books, 1968) provides the much-needed synthesis that weaves together the diverse themes and concepts around which family theory and therapy have evolved. Sweeping in its coverage, solidly researched yet consistently lively and readable, "Foundations of Family Therapy" is unique in the way it successfully bridges the gap between the family field and other social sciences.Starting with Gregory Bateson's seminal ideas on social fields, the book examines key concepts that have come to family therapy from general systems theory, notably the cybernetic paradigm. The author looks closely at the early studies of combination patterns in "schizophrenic" families and then connects this research with related work on family typology and on the whole range of emotional disorders.The second part of the book explores the major schools of family therapy and such figures as Minuchin, Bowen, Whitaker, Haley, Erickson, and Ackerman, as well as the revolutionary work of Selvini Palazzoli and her associates in Milan.Bold in conception, beautifully integrative, "Foundations of Family Therapy" conveys the excitement of the growth of ideas, while at the same time giving the reader a systematic and coherent overview of family therapy as it is practiced today. Both clinicians and researchers will recognize it as the major synthesis of contemporary family therapy.

Because Lynn Hoffman has been in the field for almost forty years and has worked with so many of its influential thinkers, the book is also a history of family therapy's evolution. Her knowledge of family therapy is intimate and deep; her perspective is clear-eyed and often wryly humorous. Readers will be reminded that, however big and impressive the theories, family therapy is very much a human endeavor. Hoffman revisits the experiences, ideas, and relationships that have informed her journey and presents them both as she perceived them at the time and as she perceives them now looking back. Through this process of reflective conversation, she creates not only a legacy out of the people and situations that acted on her most powerfully but also a countertradition to the strategic approach that influenced her so strongly early in her career. But this is not just history. Throughout her career Hoffman has been in the forefront of family therapy. She has interacted with and sometimes worked closely with many of family therapy's influential thinkers and actors, including Jay Haley, Virginia Satir, Dick Auerswald, Harry Aponte, Peggy Papp, Olga Silverstein, the Milan team, Peggy Penn, Harry Goolishian, Harlene Anderson, Tom Andersen, and Michael White. The evolution of her thinking has paralleled the major developments in the field. As she braids together continuity and innovation, she finds her own voice a 'different voice' and her own style more open, more inclusive, and less controlling. In the second half of the book Hoffman demonstrates the many possibilities inherent in 'not knowing, ' in working with a reflecting team, in looking for the 'presenting edge, ' and in grabbing the 'emotional main chance.'"

This long-awaited book is the first to offer a complete and clear presentation of the therapy of the Milan Associates, Luigi Boscolo and Gianfranco Cecchin. Based on cybernetic theory, their work has had dramatic success in helping families change behaviour. This practical and enlightening book uses clinical cases and the fascinating conversations among the four authors to examine the relationship between Milan theory and practice.Transcripts of sessions conducted by Boscolo and Cecchin,which include a family that is hiding a history of incest and one dominated by an anorectic girl,provide vivid examples of family interaction and therapeutic imagination. In the accompanying conversations with Boscolo and Cecchin about these sessions, Hoffman and Penn take us behind the scenes to show how the therapists think through and conduct their therapy. These highly readable conversations clarify the essentials of the therapy, including hypothesizing, circular questioning, positive connotation, and crafting interventions. Like Milan therapy itself, the interviews are recursive new ideas about the therapy feed back into the conversations and stimulate further revelations. A lengthy introduction sets the Milan approach in historical context, and introductions to the individual cases highlight the main ideas.

For this book, the author has not only compiled her writing for the last ten years, but she has written her own commentary about the personal and intellectual journey which led her from one paper to the next. The papers themselves read like a chronicle of the major ideas of the past ten years, but her commentary sheds a new light on the process of learning. It enables the reader to understand the way one woman has listened to the voices of a changing environment, and listened to the changes in herself in order to expand her thinking and her practice as a therapist.

All too often the experience of users of family therapy is neglected in the theory and practice of family therapy as well as in the literature itself. In Introducing User-Friendly Family Therapy the authors describe in detail how the results of an action research project helped the professionals involved to modify their practice. They draw out the implications of the research for providing a genuinely user-friendly service and set the arguments for a more humanistic approach in the wider context of contemporary social policy.
Thought-provoking and practical in emphasis, this book places the user at the centre of the stage and insists that family therapy can only flourish if it becomes genuinely empowering and user-friendly.

All too often the experience of those who receive family therapy is neglected in family therapy theorizing and literature; this in turn affects practice. The authors of "Introducing User-Friendly Family Therapy" describe in practical detail the results of an action research project in which all the professionals involved began to modify their practice on the basis of feedback from users. They draw out the implications of what they discovered for providing a genuinely user-friendly service and set the arguments for a more humanistic approach in the wider context of contemporary social policy.
Thought provoking and practical in emphasis, this is a book which will stimulate all professionals working with children and families to reassess their ways of thinking and working.

For this book, Lynn Hoffman has not only compiled her writing for the last ten years, but she has written her own commentary about the personal and intellectual journey which led her from one paper to the next. The papers themselves read like a chronicle of the major ideas of the past ten years, but her commentary sheds a new light on the process of learning. It enables the reader to understand the way one woman has listened to the voices of a changing environment, and listened to the changes in herself in order to expand her thinking and her practice as a therapist.