Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, 12th edition

Published by Pearson (February 21, 2020) © 2021
  • Michael N.A Nichols
  • Sean D. Davis

Title overview

For courses in family therapy.

An authoritative, readable, informative guide to the field of family therapy

Family Therapy explores the rich history and contemporary practice of the entire field. Thorough, thoughtful, fair, and balanced, this accessible resource presents ideas and techniques that give readers a clear focus on clinical practice. Long considered the standard of excellence, it's the best introduction and guide to the practice of family therapy available.

The 12th Edition puts an increased, pragmatic focus on clinical practice, including the author's observations of actual sessions with leading practitioners, as well as the best-case studies of several invited master therapists.

Hallmark features of this title

  • An engaging, accessible writing style keeps readers interested and informed. Using this book as a guide, readers are able to describe various appropriate clinical approaches, understand old and new developments in the field, analyze successes and failures in research, and the impact on current clinical practices, and compare different schools of family therapy and explain the contemporary status of distinct schools of therapy.
  • An emphasis on clinical practice puts readers into the everyday aspects of their work with families, including discussions of the author's observations of actual sessions with leading practitioners.
  • An up-to-date look at some of the most current issues in the field, including coverage of the Affordable Care Act.

New and updated features of this title

  • NEW: A new chapter on research in family therapy (Ch. 15) includes discussion on common factors and recommendations for bridging the research-practice gap.
  • NEW: A list of prominent training centers and recommended readings in each theory chapter.
  • NEW: New sections on immigration (Ch. 10), community mental health (Ch. 3), and emotional affairs (Ch. 3).
  • UPDATED: Recommendations for establishing a fee-for-service private practice (Ch. 3).
  • UPDATED: New case studies illustrate the concepts, including the best cases of several invited master therapists; an expanded and updated section on technology, including a discussion of the effects of technology on family relationships and adolescent emotional development (Ch. 10); an expanded discussion of Bowen theory (Ch. 4) and expanded discussion of narrative externalizing questions (Ch.13).

Table of contents

PART I: THE CONTEXT OF FAMILY THERAPY

  • Introduction: The Foundations of Family Therapy
  1. The Evolution of Family Therapy
  2. The Fundamental Concepts of Family Therapy
  3. Basic Techniques of Family Therapy

PART II: THE CLASSIC SCHOOLS OF FAMILY THERAPY

  1. Bowen Family Systems Therapy
  2. Strategic Family Therapy
  3. Structural Family Therapy
  4. Experiential Family Therapy
  5. Psychoanalytic Family Therapy
  6. Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy

PART III: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FAMILY THERAPY

  1. Family Therapy in the Twenty-First Century
  2. Tailoring Treatment to Specific Populations and Problems
  3. Solution-Focused Therapy
  4. Narrative Therapy

PART IV: THE EVALUATION OF FAMILY THERAPY

  1. Comparative Analysis
  2. Family Therapy Research

Author bios

About our author

Michael P. Nichols is a professor at the College of William and Mary. Dr. Nichols received his BA from the University of Wisconsin and his PhD from the University of Rochester. He teaches and practices family therapy and is the author of numerous journal articles and books, including Inside Family Therapy, The Lost Art of Listening, Stop Arguing with Your Kids and Essentials of Family Therapy. He is coauthor, along with Salvador Minuchin and Wai-Yung Lee, of Assessing Families and Couples: From Symptom to System.

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