Some irreverent thoughts on the limits of family therapy: Toward a language-based explanation of human systems.

Epstein, Eugene S.; Loos, Victor E.

doi:10.1037/0893-3200.2.4.405

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Opinions and judgments in these situations are helpful” (p. 166). Not only are such evaluations helpful , they are also ethical , and, as such, necessary: “[T]here is no way to escape the responsibility of making moral decisions”(Epstein & Loos, 1989, p. 418).…”

Section: The Question Of Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Therapists' Practices in a Postmodern World: A Discussion and a Scheme

Flemons

Green²,

Rambo³

1996

Family Process

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The social constructionist ideas currently reshaping the practice of family therapy are also relevant for supervision. However, if, as postmodernists assert, there is no privileged, expert position, how can supervisors evaluate their trainees? This question-a most pertinent one for university-based supervision, where evaluation is necessary and constant-is addressed both theoretically and pragmatically in this article. Ethical issues are explored, and an evaluation form, developed by the authors for use in a family therapy doctoral program, is presented and discussed.

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Section: The Question Of Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Therapists' Practices in a Postmodern World: A Discussion and a Scheme

Flemons

Green²,

Rambo³

1996

Family Process

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“…"Therapy is serious business," I thought. Despite the unsettling nature of these thoughts, I am becoming more comfortable with viewing therapy as a conversation (Anderson & Goolishian, 1988;Epstein & Loos, 1989) and a process of "listening and talking" or telling stories (Parry, 1991;Rambo, 1993). I realize therapy requires an exchange of experience (Heath, 1993).Therapy is a process in which both parties develop a relationship, and disclose themselves and listen to each other (Heath, 1993).…”

Section: Language In Family Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Sense of It All: Hermeneutics and Family Therapy

Jankowski

1995

Counseling and Values

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In this personal narrative, the author presents his journey as a beginning therapist. He focuses on the changes that have taken place in his personal and therapeutic worldview as a result of conceptualizing therapy as a hermeneutic process. Three constructs essential to hermeneutics are discussed. The author illustrates how each construct is used in the interpretation of a biblical text and then discusses how the same construct is applied to therapy. Finally, he offers his ideas to stimulate conversation to further clarify his own thinking about therapy.

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“…As Goolishian and Anderson (1989) state: “Problems are no more than a socially created reality that is sustained by behavior and coordinated in language” (p. 534). Epstein and Loos (1989), in proposing what they call an alternative conceptualization of family therapy based on a dialogic constructivist position, note that “language is the vehicle for the development of meaning,” and that “languaging” entails “not only the denotations of objects with linguistic symbols but also the action taken with respect to that notation” (p. 412). Narrative therapists White and Epston (1990) say that it is not the “underlying structure or dysfunction” that “determines the behaviors and interactions of family members”; rather, “it is the meaning that members attribute to events that determines their behavior” (p. 3).…”

Section: Expanding the Mri Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Problems Evolve and Dissolve: Integrating Narrative and Strategic Concepts

Eron¹,

Lund²

1993

Family Process

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This article presents an approach to therapy that links narrative and strategic concepts. The term "strategic" is used not in the prescriptive, impositional sense that has come to be associated with the method, but in terms of having a clear therapeutic direction in promoting change. The authors outline an approach to therapy that expands upon the fundamental principles of the MRI (Mental Research Institute) Brief Therapy model, elaborating more upon its constructivist premises than its prescriptive practices. They propose that by mapping how ordinary life events affect a person's preferred view, the therapist can locate the key narrative elements that shape the course of the problem and direct its solution. The authors suggest a framework for how problems evolve and dissolve. When new events are construed as contradicting family members' preferred narrative accounts, problems evolve. Problems dissolve when family members see the event, and the ideas and actions of others, as consonant with their preferred ways of being and acting.

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Some irreverent thoughts on the limits of family therapy: Toward a language-based explanation of human systems.

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Evaluating Therapists' Practices in a Postmodern World: A Discussion and a Scheme

Evaluating Therapists' Practices in a Postmodern World: A Discussion and a Scheme

Making Sense of It All: Hermeneutics and Family Therapy

How Problems Evolve and Dissolve: Integrating Narrative and Strategic Concepts

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