Directive Family Therapy

Directive family therapy pioneer Jay Haley and Madeleine Richeport-Haley explain their innovative techniques for solving problems. Directive Family Therapy is the final work of a widely recognized giant in the international family therapy field. This text is the pre-eminent state-of-the-art sourcebook on practical, innovative techniques to effectively solve problems throughout the life cycle stages.

The authors provide practitioners with creative directives to clearly identify problems, formulate well-designed treatment plans, and then successfully carry them out to achieve lasting therapeutic change. The text explores fascinating case studies illustrating the powerful, highly effective problem-solving directives. The work is extensively referenced, and includes a full and complete bibliography of Haley's published works and a list of the authors' collaborative films.

This book presents highly instructive, revelatory stories about working with real life clients and provides dynamic, innovative, and often surprising solutions to a wide range of specifically detailed problems and clinical issues. All stages and issues in the life cycle are addressed, including birth, child development, raising children, problems in adolescence, becoming a couple, aging, and retirement. Also included is a detailed appendix containing a variety of poignant and insightful interviews featuring Haley's reflections on the early years of practice, and the development of directive family therapy.

Problem areas addressed in Directive Family Therapy include: fire setting, bedwetting, fear of dogs, violent behaviour, teenage rebellion, incest, drugs, panic attacks, abuse, fights within couple relationships, eating disorders, alcohol abuse, affairs, sexual shyness within a couple relationship, shoplifting and more. Directive Family Therapy is invaluable for mental health professionals of every experience level, and is a useful family therapy resource for educators and students in MFT programs and psychology and a fitting and poignant memoir to the work of a profoundly gifted family therapist.