Doug Sprenkle - Awarded the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) 2010 Award for Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Research and Practice! Grounded in theory, research, and extensive clinical experience, this pragmatic book addresses critical questions of how change occurs in couple and family therapy and how to help clients achieve better results. The authors show that regardless of a clinician's orientation or favored techniques, there are particular therapist attributes, relationship variables, and other factors that make therapy specifically, therapy with couples and families more or less effective. The book explains these common factors in depth and provides hands-on guidance for capitalizing on them in clinical practice and training. User-friendly features include numerous case examples and a reproducible common factors checklist.

Grounded in theory, research, and extensive clinical experience, this pragmatic book addresses critical questions of how change occurs in couple and family therapy and how to help clients achieve better results. The authors show that regardless of a clinician's orientation or favored techniques, there are particular therapist attributes, relationship variables, and other factors that make therapy--specifically, therapy with couples and families--effective. The book explains these common factors in depth and provides hands-on guidance for capitalizing on them in clinical practice and training. User-friendly features include numerous case examples and a reproducible common factors checklist.

Grounded in theory, research, and extensive clinical experience, this pragmatic book addresses critical questions of how change occurs in couple and family therapy and how to help clients achieve better results. The authors show that regardless of a clinician's orientation or favored techniques, there are particular therapist attributes, relationship variables, and other factors that make therapy--specifically, therapy with couples and families--effective. The book explains these common factors in depth and provides hands-on guidance for capitalizing on them in clinical practice and training. User-friendly features include numerous case examples and a reproducible common factors checklist.

This authoritative reference assembles prominent international experts from psychology, social work, and counseling to summarize the current state of couple and family therapy knowledge in a clear A-Z format. Its sweeping range of entries covers major concepts, theories, models, approaches, intervention strategies, and prominent contributors associated with couple and family therapy. The Encyclopedia provides family and couple context for treating varied problems and disorders, understanding special client populations, and approaching emerging issues in the field, consolidating this wide array of knowledge into a useful resource for clinicians and therapists across clinical settings, theoretical orientations, and specialties. A sampling of topics included in the Encyclopedia: Acceptance versus behavior change in couple and family therapy Collaborative and dialogic therapy with couples and families Integrative treatment for infidelity Live supervision in couple and family therapy Postmodern approaches in the use of genograms Split alliance in couple and family therapy Transgender couples and families The first comprehensive reference work of its kind, the Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy incorporates seven decades of innovative developments in the fields of couple and family therapy into one convenient resource. It is a definitive reference for therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and counselors, whether couple and family therapy is their main field or one of many modalities used in practice.

This book surveys the state of the science and practice of today's couple and family therapy, looking beyond single models of treatment to instead present an integrative view of the field and its methods of practice.

This practical breakthrough introduces a robust framework for family and couples therapy specifically designed for working with difficult, entrenched, and court-mandated situations. Using an original model (the System for Observing Family Therapy Alliances, or SOFTA) suitable to therapists across theoretical lines, the authors detail special challenges, empirically-supported strategies, and alliance-building interventions organized around common types of ongoing couple and family conflicts. Copious case examples illustrate how therapists can empower family members to discover their agency, find resources to address tough challenges, and especially repair their damaged relationships. These guidelines also show how to work effectively within multiple relationships in a family without compromising therapist focus, client individuality, or client safety. Included in the coverage: Using the therapeutic alliance to empower couples and families Couples’ cross-complaints Engaging reluctant adolescents...and their parents Parenting in isolation, with or without a partner Child maltreatment: creating therapeutic alliances with survivors of relational trauma Disadvantaged, multi-stressed families: adrift in a sea of professional helpers Empowering through the alliance: a practical formulation Therapeutic Alliances with Families offers powerful new tools for social workers, mental health professionals, and practitioners working in couple and family therapy cases with reluctant clients and seeking specific, practical case examples and resources for alliance-related interventions.

With the aim of renewing motivation, energy, and creativity in a therapists clinical work, this book explores how common factors may be utilized to increase effectiveness in couple and family therapy. Practicing a specific approach or model for couple and family therapy may fulfill many initial therapist needs, but over time it is developmentally normal for your enthusiasm to wane for a specific way of practicing this therapy. This book therefore provides a common factors framework which may help alleviate feelings of "staleness" and reinvigorate your practice. Different from previous theoretical texts about common factors, this practical book will help you construct a personalized plan that will allow you to take charge of your therapeutic development. The authors present helpful strategies and exercises to build on your previously existing therapeutic skill set, stoke curiosity for the work, counter against burnout and frustration and, most importantly, achieve consistently better outcomes for your clients. This new resource is an essential read for seasoned couple and family therapists who want to improve their clinical skills and personal effectiveness, as well as students and professionals just starting their journey into this type of clinical work.