Family Kaleidoscope

New
Illustrated
1986
$50.93

With characteristic insight, compassion, and dry humor, the grand master of family therapy Salvador Minuchin challenges us to meditate on some of the most perplexing-and profound-questions of the day: Why is our image of the ideal family so far from the common reality? When we have such a rich literature of individual psychology, why is the family comparatively neglected? Why does our legal system promote confrontation rather than cooperation?

Synopsis

With characteristic insight, compassion, and dry humor, the grand master of family therapy Salvador Minuchin challenges us to meditate on some of the most perplexing-and profound-questions of the day: Why is our image of the ideal family so far from the common reality? When we have such a rich literature of individual psychology, why is the family comparatively neglected? Why does our legal system promote confrontation rather than cooperation?

$50.93

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 256
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 01 Jan 1986
ISBN 10: 0674292316
ISBN 13: 9780674292314

Media Reviews

[This book], the fruit of Dr. Minuchin's year off from clinic and classroom, presents several case studies, each making the same point about the primacy of the family...[It] offers a radical departure in format. Dr. Minuchin breaks free of the typical palidness of case reports and employs some experimental writing. -- Daniel Goleman New York Times Book Review Vignettes of families in transition, of new and old family violence--in a delicate, resonant interplay of fact, fiction, and imaginary dialogues by one of our most esteemed family therapists...The book has emotional and intellectual drama. It speaks at once for family therapy...for family, all-family, mindedness. Kirkus Reviews his enjoyable and clearly written text gives any reader, whether from a clinical or theoretical perspective, much to consider. A reader/author dialogue at the end of each chapter addresses in a thought-provoking yet playful manner many of the theoretical issues to be considered in dealing with families...This book has appeal for a variety of audiences and will be read on a number of levels. The experienced clinician and family studies theorist will benefit from a fresh approach and the humor and unconventional format presented. The individual with limited experience with family systems concepts will find an easy to read account of family therapy without the often intimidating and unfamiliar jargon. -- Debra Cole Russell Family Relations [Minuchin] has a fine grasp of family dynamics and he writes about it with imagination and vigor...He helps readers escape the habit of thinking in terms of individuals and begin to see the whole of the family system. He describes the struggles of families in transition--and the triangular complexities of these developments...Writing for the general public allows an author to be more candid, to drop some of the formal conventions of professional writing and reveal the personal side of the writer. In [this book] we get to hear from Minuchin the expert and Minuchin the person. He is never smug, always open and feeling. -- Michael Nichols Family Therapy Networker The very richness, depth and breadth of this book make it difficult to recommend to the nonresearch clinician...Minuchin writes [the book] from the dual perspective of a self-styled elder of the family therapy movement and the freedom of an early retirement. Roaming widely and persuasively, he pursues his theme in varied, ingenious ways...Case illustrations from both history and fiction are examined with Minuchin's flair for the dramatic and his sharp, critical eye. An imaginary dialogue between Author and Reader ends each chapter--a disarming way to raise some of the issues the skeptical reader wants raised. -- Kenneth S. Robson Journal of Child Psychology The substance of [the book] is stories. The people Minuchin describes come alive, and we come to care what happens to them. They are each parts of the kaleidoscope, but they transcend the patterns of which they are a part...[The book] deserves an audience. It joins that small company of books...that help the public understand the work of family therapists and its theoretical contributions. It is the most personal of Minuchin's books, and Minuchin is its most interesting story. -- Henry Grunebaum, M.D. Family Process

Author Bio

Salvador Minuchin, M.D., is author of Families and Family Therapy and Family Kaleidoscope and coauthor of Psychosomatic Families: Anorexia Nervosa in Context.