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June 30, 2012

Family Therapy Books I Recommend to Individual Therapists

Posted by Nathen under advice, books, family therapy, Fritjof Capra, Gregory Bateson, John Gottman, Ken Wilber, lists, metaframeworks, reading, Susan Johnson, systems theory
[2] Comments

A few weeks ago, one of my posts received a comment that was worth a whole post:

I am also a therapist (though I’m still in training). I’m wondering if you would be willing/able to recommend some family therapy books you’ve found helpful. My program is very focused on the individual and I’m trying to fill in some gaps and find your perspective on therapy to be very resonant with my own.

I’d love to recommend some family therapy books! My program was extremely family-systems focused, which I’ve been grateful for since leaving school. If you want to see an exhaustive reading list (I can’t remember having been assigned a real dud), you can see reverse-order lists of everything I read in my first year here and my second year here.

I’ll try to create a bare-bones list for you here—much more useful for you and a good exercise for me. I should warn you before I begin that I am super nerdy when it comes to family therapy reading and I can imagine many in my cohort rolling their eyes at my “must-read” list. If you are nerdy like me, though, here goes:

Pragmatics of Human Communication: A classic and profound book by Bateson’s MRI team, the first and probably still the best attempt to apply system theory to human relationships.

Susan Johnson’s books The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy for Trauma Survivors. Johnson combines system-thinking, Rogers-style experiential therapy, and attachment theory, creating one of my most-used therapy models.

John Gottman’s books, especially The Marriage Clinic and The Science of Trust. Gottman has taken up the project started with Pragmatics, largely abandoned by family therapy, and is doing it in fine style, with solid science.

Metaframeworks: This book presents my favorite meta-model of family therapy, combining the best parts of the many family therapy models.

A major work by each family therapy model-builder is also important reading: Haley, Madanes, Satir, Whitaker, Minuchin, Bowen, Selvini-Palazolli/Milan group, Weakland/Fisch/MRI group, deShazer/Insoo-Berg, Epson/White, and Hubble/Duncan/Miller. Keep in mind that their books are presentations of informed opinion, not science. Every one of these folks have got some things right and some wrong. They have also advanced the field significantly, and are the largest part the conversation on how to think about families.

Finally, a couple things that I was not assigned in school, but I found extremely helpful in making sense of the flood of information. First, a grounding in systems/complexity theory: Family therapists think of themselves as system-theory experts and throw around a lot of lingo that they may or may not really understand. It’s easy to get confused in this situation. The best introduction to modern system thinking is still Capra’s The Web of Life (though we’re overdue for an update). Also, check out Bateson’s books Steps to an Ecology of Mind and Mind and Nature. Second, familiarity with Wilber’s integral theory really helped me navigate the heated arguments about modernism vs. post-modernism and intervention at the level of individuals vs. family systems vs. larger systems. Check out Integral Psychology or A Theory of Everything.

June 29, 2011

Post-Graduation Reading List

Posted by Nathen under fiction, nonfiction, reading
[5] Comments

Here are the books on my post-graduation reading list, in alphabetical order. Anything I should add? Anything I should move to the top? Anything you’ve read that I should remove from the list? I do not yet own the books marked with an astrisk. Also, I’ve been off fiction for six years–anyone willing to give me their top-five-or-so-fiction-of-all-time list?

A Pattern Language

A People’s History of the World, Harman

Achilles in Vietnam, Shay

An Ecology of Mind, Bateson*

Animals In Translation, Grandin*

Animals Make Us Human, Grandin*

Attachment, Trauma, and Healing: Understanding and Treating Attachment Disorder in Children and Families, Levi & Orlans

Biochemical Individuality, Williams

Clinician’s Guide to Systemic Sex Therapy, Hertlein, Weeks, Sendak

Cognitive Theory and the Emotional Disorders, Beck

Collapse, Diamond

Conceptual Revolutions, Thagard

Consciousness Explained, Dennet

Dynamic Assessment in Couple Therapy, Hiebert, Gillespie & Stahmann

Enhanced Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Couples, Epstein & Baucom

Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken the Heart and Mind, Walsh

Everyday Zen, Beck

Eye to Eye: The Quest for a New Paradigm, Wilber*

Futurehype: The Tyranny of Prophecy*

Generations, Strauss & Howe

Genograms, McGoldrick

Gestalt Theory Verbatim, Perls

God In Search of Man, Heschel

Grace & Grit, Wilber*

Growing Old is Not For Sissies*

Handbook of Emotion Regulation*

Handbook of Emotion*

Healing Emotions: Conversations With the Dalai Lama on Mindfulness, Emotions, and Health

Healing Parents: Helping Wounded Children Learn to Trust & Love, Olans & Levi

Healing the Soul Wound: Counseling with American Indians and Other Native Peoples, Duran

Healing Trauma, Siegel*

How Doctors Think, Groopman*

How the Mind Works, Pinker

How To Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People, Alford

Internal Family Systems Therapy, Schwartz

Lies My Music Teacher Told Me, Eskelin

Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen

Life Maps, Fowler*

Look Me In the Eye: My Life With Asperger’s, Robison

Love & Survival, Ornish*

Love Is Never Enough, Beck

Loving What Is, Katie*

Mad in America, Whitaker

Mans Search for Meaning, Frankl

Manufacturing Consent, Herman & Chomsky

Natural Capitalism, Hawkins, Lovins & Lovins

On Becoming a Person, Rogers

One Taste: Daily Reflections on Integral Spirituality, Wilber*

Pain Free at Your PC, Egoscue

Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire

Phantoms in the Brain, Ramachandran *

Play In Family Therapy, Gil

Positive Words, Powerful Results, Urban

Principles of Intensive Psychotherapy, Fromm-Reichmann

Protecting the Gift, Becker

Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy, Green & Flemons

Resolving Sexual Abuse, Dolan

Revisioning Family Therapy: Race, Culture, and Gender in Clinical Practice, McGoldrick*

Reviving Ophelia, Pipher

Rituals for Our Times: Celebrating, Healing, and Changing Our Lives and Our Relationships, Imber-Black*

Rituals In Family Therapy, Imber-Black*

See What I’m Saying: The Extraordinary Power of Our Five Senses, Rosenblum

Self-Compassion, Neff*

Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, Wilber*

Size Matters: How Height Affects Health, Happiness, and Success of Boys, Hall

So Sexy So Soon, Levin & Kilbourne

Story, Symbol and Ceremony: Using Metaphor in Family Therapy*

Strange Attractors, Butz*

Successful Aging, Rowe & Kahn*

Survivors Club: Secrets & Science that could Save Your Life, Sherwood*

Telling Lies, Ekman

The 12 Stages of Healing, Apstein & Altman

The Albert Ellis Reader

The Collected Works of CG Jung, Hopcke

The Dance of Anger, Lerner

The Divided Mind, Sarno

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, Mlodinow

The Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think, Aunger

The Emergence of Everything, Morowitz

The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad, Wilber*

The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, Maslow

The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotions in the Making of Consciousness, Damasio

The Gift of Fear, Becker

The Healer Within, Jahnke

The Inklings

The Laws of Emotion, Frijda*

The Myth of the Chemical Cure, Moncrieff

The Nature of Emotion, Ekman & Davidson

The Personality Puzzle, Funder

The Presence Process, Brown

The Problem of the Soul, Flanagan*

The Quantum Mind & Healing, Mindell

The Science of Good and Evil, Shermer

The Science of Trust, Gottman

The Simple Feeling of Being: Embracing Your True Nature, Wilber*

The Stages of Faith, Fowler

The Therapist’s Guide to Psychopharmacology, Patterson

The Toe Bone and the Tooth, Prechtel

The Unwritten Rules of Human Social Interaction, Grandin*

The Way I See It: A Personal Look At Autism and Asperger’s, Grandin*

Theory-Based Treatment Planning for Marriage and Family Therapists, Gehart

Thinking In Pictures: My Life With Autism, Grandin*

Time for a Better Marriage, Dinkmeyer & Carlson

Traumatic Stress, van der Kolk

Unconditional Parenting, Kohn

Up From Eden, Wilber*

Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, Levine*

What’s Really Wrong With You: Muscles & Health, Grivier*

You Ain’t Got No Easter Clothes, Love

June 14, 2011

Graduation and an Apology for the Last Four Years

Posted by Nathen under Bachelor of Science, Center for Family Therapy, community, Couples and Family Therapy, education, Formal Client Presentation, goals/intentions, graduate school, learning curves, Looking Glass Counseling, marriage and family therapy, Master of Education, reading, school, transitions, UO Men's Center, writing
[12] Comments

It has been four years of sitting in hundreds of hours of lectures, reading thousands of pages of theory and research, writing hundreds of pages, and seeing clients for hundreds of hours. It has been long weeks, late nights, steep learning curves, and lots and lots of thinking. It is amazing how much learning you can do in four years of 60-80 hour weeks! In 2009 I finished a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, with a research assistant position in Sara Hodges’ social cognition lab, a practicum position at a residential treatment facility for teenage sex offenders, an honors thesis entitled “Differentiating the Effects of Social and Personal Power,” and a GPA of 4.23. Yesterday I graduated with a Master of Education degree, Couples and Family Therapy specialization, 455 client-contact hours at the Center for Family Therapy and Looking Glass Counseling Services, one term as a counselor for the University of Oregon Crisis Line, four terms volunteering for the UO Men’s Center, a GPA of 4.19, and a “Pass With Distinction” on my final Formal Client Presentation. It has been a wonderful, exhilarating, exhausting four years.

It has also taken a bit of a toll on my health, but the major loss was in community. If you do not live in Eugene and we have not made a point of a regular visit, I probably have not spoken or even written to you much, if anything, since 2007. For that I sincerely apologize. It is not how I prefer to live but I could not seem to do this any other way. Know that I miss you. Let’s reconnect. Call me up, write, send me your unfinished song, your idea for a book, something to read and talk about. Let’s go for a walk, go swimming, have lunch, see a show. I am looking forward to it.

Couples & Family Therapy 2011 Cohort

Me & My Dad, June 14, 2011

January 9, 2011

An Outline of Carl Whitaker’s The Roots of Psychotherapy

Posted by Nathen under books, Carl Whitaker, Couples and Family Therapy, existential therapy, experiential family therapy, Open Office, Person Centered Therapy, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, reading
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I started reading Whitaker and Malone’s 1953 The Roots of Psychotherapy last summer, on the advice of John Miller, one of the heads of my Couples and Family Therapy program. He hadn’t actually read it, but had had it so highly recommended to him by a respected colleague that John wished he had time to read it. It was a difficult read, especially in addition to my regular course-reading, but interesting to see what looked like Whitaker’s explanation of his transition from psychiatry and psychoanalysis to the experiential family therapy of his later career. You can see elements of existential, experiential, and person-centered therapies emerging in Whitaker, all explained in Freudian language.

My outline is quite sloppy, thanks mostly to Open Office’s awful outlining capabilities, to inserting my own comments, and to my own lack of understanding at times, but the guts of the book as I did understand it are here. I don’t recommend reading it unless you are a therapy nerd, but if you are, and especially if you are interested in Carl Whitaker’s model of therapy and its origins, I do recommend it. In less than an hour you can get the basics and decide if the book is worth reading for you.

September 22, 2010

Shhhhhhh

Posted by Nathen under babies, blogging, children, reading, Uncategorized
1 Comment

The author, circa 1974

As previously mentioned, Nathen enlisted some help to manage his publishing empire while he is at Not Back to School Camp. Until now, the help has been pushing the publish button on previously authored posts, but with Nathen out of internet range again, it’s time to post a gratuitously cute photo of him.

His mother says he’s two or three in this photo, and that “he’s never stopped reading since.”

July 27, 2010

No Guilty Pleasures

Posted by Nathen under 10000 hour rule, CFT cohort, dancing, guilty pleasures, lists, mastery, reading, record production, self-care, therapy, writing
[7] Comments

Our check-out at the end of group supervision last night was naming our “guilty pleasures.” My cohort-mates mostly talked about TV shows they were watching, plus some fiction reading. When it was my turn, they shot down every single extracurricular activity I offered. Not one qualified as a guilty pleasure. Here’s the list:

Reading Ken Wilber’s Integral Psychology

Watching Ken Burns’ documentary Jazz

Listening to Sol Stein’s Stein on Writing on audiobook

Listening to This American Life, Radiolab, and a couple other podcasts

Recording Reanna a cover of “Got To Get You Into My Life”

Dancing every week

I think they might have given me dancing if I hadn’t tried their patience with the other stuff first. I didn’t think to say writing for my blog, which is probably the pleasure I feel the guiltiest about, but they probably wouldn’t have given me that either.

It doesn’t seem like I have time to watch TV. I don’t even have a TV, come to think of it, and I haven’t figured out how to get TV shows on the internet. I’m watching a little of the jazz doc each night as I brush my teeth, but it’s hard to imagine watching multiple seasons of TV shows, like my cohort-mates are. It would take a major shift in lifestyle. I did listen to Murakami’s (excellent) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle last spring, but only while I was driving, so it took 15 weeks to finish.

I feel conflicted about my lack of guilty pleasures. I’d like to have that kind of laid-back lifestyle. I want to be more relaxed. This summer–this next four weeks of this summer–is my only even partly unstructured time before I graduate next June. And who knows after that? I’ll have loans to pay off.

On the other hand, it doesn’t sound relaxing to add something to my schedule! Plus, I like the stuff that I’m doing, and I’m working on wrapping my head around something with infinite depth. When I finished my two-year record-production program in the 1990s, my teacher Josh Hecht said, “This is a deep subject that you have scratched the surface of, but you now know what you need to be able to do. The next step is figuring out a way to do it for 14 hours a day, every day. In 20 years or so, you’ll be very good at it.” That was his lifestyle, and it made him an excellent record producer. He worked all day, had no time for non-audio entertainment, read only the two very best trade magazines, participated in only the two very best trade organizations. He slept five hours a night.

This is a path of mastery like Erickson’s 10,000 hour rule; to get good at any complex endeavor, you have to put in about 10,000 hours. Being a therapist certainly qualifies as a complex endeavor! The catch is, weeks after Josh told us how to become a good record producer, he got very ill and was forced to take a long vacation–his first vacation in decades, I believe. I think that was the point my supervisor was making about guilty pleasures; this is a demanding career in many ways. How do I master it while maintaining my health, motivation, and clarity?

June 28, 2010

“It Is Hoped”

Posted by Nathen under aesthetics, family assessment, humor, reading, Reanna, Strunk & White, writing
1 Comment

One of the many perks of Reanna reading my assignments to me is that I get her editorial critiques of the writing. Academic writing is mostly bad writing, as I’ve been ranting about off and on. Bad writing can be entertaining, though, if it is read to you by a very smart editor like Reanna. Here is one example, Reanna reading Martin Erickson’s critique of the family life cycle theory:

Reanna, reading Erickson: “Perhaps the problems a family is experiencing may have little to do with the family’s deficient ability to negotiate transitions of the FLC but may rather indicate the family’s attempts at creative production and new arrangements that may be a difficult transition into which it may be difficult for a family to adjust. There are many implications of NAT in regard to family therapists. It is hoped that this discussion will spur more in-depth theorizing and research in regard to these issues and provide family therapists with a different way of conceptualizing with which they currently work….”

Reanna, aside: “It is hoped…not by the author necessarily, but, you know, it is hoped.”

Hilarious! Erickson is probably worth reading for any family therapist, but especially so with the added commentary.

The phrase she picked out is a violation of Strunk & White’s Elementary Principle of Composition #14, the most common form of bad writing in academia. For those of you unfamiliar with Strunk & White, get the book The Elements of Style. It’s funny, spot on, and very useful. Here’s the beginning of principle #14:

14. Use the active voice.

The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive:

I shall always remember my first trip to Boston.

This is much better than

My first trip to Boston will always be remembered by me.

The latter sentence is less direct, less bold, and less concise. If the writer tries to make it more concise by omitting “by me,”

My first trip to Boston will always be remembered,

it becomes indefinite: is it the writer or some person undisclosed or the world at large that will always remember this visit?

May 2, 2010

My Mom’s Prescription for Hyperactivity

Posted by Nathen under advice, affection, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Benjamin Lester, children, Darlene Lester, family, nature, parenting, reading, stimulants, sugar, television
[3] Comments

My mom sent me this in response to my posting the diagnostic criteria for AD/HD yesterday. She’s not a health care professional, but she did raise five boys. Since I’m the oldest I got to see her do it. I also got to benefit from her love of nature (and sending us out into it), reading to her kids, being affectionate with her kids, making nutritious food, and her skepticism of TV and traditional schooling. And many, many other things, like her faith in her kids. The first thing they told us in my class on psychopathology was that we were not to diagnose ourselves, our friends, or family, so I won’t, but I suspect that all of us (except perhaps Ben) fit the diagnostic criteria for AD/HD for periods of our young lives. She wouldn’t even feed us sugar, much less amphetamines, so it’s not like it was a close call, but thanks, Mom, for not feeding us stimulants!

Here it is:

“Be forewarned, this takes effort on the parent’s part!

“Here is my humble prescription for hyperactivity in children (who, by the way, are usually boys): First, TAKE HIM OUT OF SCHOOL!! Live in, or move to, a rural area. (Or at least make sure there is a wild area, like woods or a meadow, nearby). Each day, after he has slept as late as he wants to, feed him a highly nutritious breakfast that contains no sugar, no additives, no colorings. Just whole foods. Then, send him outside to play in nature. Make sure he gets plenty of sun exposure. Make sure he has some of these things: trees to climb, grass to lie in, rocks to scramble on, water to swim or wade in, wildlife to watch, dirt to dig in, and bushes to hide in. (Create a beautiful outdoor environment for him if your outdoor area is naturally very stark.) Make sure he has plenty of water to drink. Let him roam freely. At lunchtime have him come in for another nutritious meal of whole foods. No sugar. Only water to drink. After a cuddle and as much attention as he wants from you, send him back outside to play in nature. Let him play as long as he wants. When he wants to come back inside, he can be read to or told stories, he can play or read quietly, or he can just rest while listening to soft classical music, or take a nap. No TV. No computers. No gameboys… no screens of any kind. Nothing with headphones. Then, back outside to play until the sun goes down. Back in for another nutritious meal, and then he is put in the bathtub. He plays in the bathtub for as long as he wants (an hour or more in very warm water is good). Then, he has a bedtime routine (thorough teeth brushing and flossing- you do it if necessary- and then jammies). After that he gets read to for a LONG TIME in bed…an hour or more is good… until he is sleepy. Make sure he has plenty of hugs and cuddles and kisses and loving words as he drifts off. Follow this prescription every day until his hyperactivity is cured. By the way, this routine could be of benefit to “normal” children, as well. It works for calming and soothing and centering and bringing color to their cheeks, and a more cheerful attitude in general. And, I’d go so far as to say, adults should try it, too… to cure whatever ails them.”

April 30, 2010

Useful Tip For Grad School Students

Posted by Nathen under advice, engagement, graduate school, heroism, lists, long-distance relationships, love, reading, Reanna
[3] Comments

If you’re in grad school or going to start soon, consider getting engaged to an amazing woman. I have had the good fortune to do that, and believe me you won’t regret it. I could (and maybe will at some point) write long into the night about the qualities that I am talking about, but for now I’ll just focus on one telling detail.

In graduate school, you do a lot of reading. Many, many, many hours and hours of reading. Few people do all the reading that they are assigned in a grad program. The eyes and attention can’t take it. I have the advantage of being engaged to Reanna. She reads a chunk of my assigned reading to me each term. Understand that this is mostly dry, academic stuff, interesting if you really want to be a family therapist, but otherwise only tolerable if you are extremely intelligent, curious, and dedicated. Understand also that she doesn’t even get social time with me out of it. I live in Oregon and she lives in British Columbia. She reads my assignments into a voice recorder and emails the files to me. I get to do the dishes or whatever while hearing her voice and getting reading done. She gets to sit in front of a computer screen, reading. (Well, she does get to criticize the bad writing, of which there is plenty, but that’s not much of a payoff, especially for a professional editor.)

She also reads relevant books that she finds that I have not been assigned. How cool is that? I’m going to have a term on Susan Johnson’s emotionally-focused couples therapy next fall, and she’s already read me Johnson’s popularization, Hold Me Tight.

Here is a partial list of what she’s read, from my iTunes. Some of the times didn’t copy out (Open Office couldn’t recognize them, apparently, and made them into times of day), but take my word for it, this is about 50 hours of reading.

A Walk Down the Aisle – Prologue	Kate Cohen		17:05
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 1	Kate Cohen		22:06
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 10	Reanna	A Walk Down the Aisle	23:01
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 11	Reanna	A Walk Down the Aisle	16:11
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 12 – ch 8	Reanna	A Walk Down the Aisle	43:12:00
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 13 – ch 9	Reanna	A Walk Down the Aisle	30:41:00
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 14a – ch 9	Kate Cohen		7:32
A Walk down the Aisle – Pt 14b – ch 9	Reanna	A Walk Down the Aisle	1:28
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 15 – ch 10	Kate Cohen		1:26
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 16 – ch 10	Kate Cohen		1:47
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 17 – ch 10	Reanna	A Walk Down the Aisle	29:18:00
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 2	Kate Cohen		10:18
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 3	Kate Cohen		10:25
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 4	Kate Cohen		41:25:00
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 5	Kate Cohen		7:51
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 6	Kate Cohen		12:49
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 7	Kate Cohen		11:07
A Walk Down the Aisle – Pt 7	Kate Cohen		10:24
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 8	Kate Cohen		45:32:00
A Walk Down the Aisle – pt 9	Kate Cohen		1:08:43
Pt 1 – Chapter 3 – Emotional Responsiveness	Dr. Sue Johnson	Hold Me Tight	34:40:00
Pt 2 – Conversation 1 – Recognizing the Demon Dialogue	Dr. Sue Johnson	Hold Me Tight	41:25:00
Pt 2 – Conversation 2 – Finding the Raw Spots	Dr. Sue Johnson	Hold Me Tight	35:02:00
Pt 2 – Conversation 6 – Bonding through Sex & Touch	Dr. Sue Johnson	Hold Me Tight	47:05:00
Pt 2 – Conversation 7 – Keeping the Love Alive	Dr. Sue Johnson	Hold Me Tight	23:59
Chapter 1, Part 1	Why Don’t Zebra’s Get Ulcers, ch1	Reading Aloud to Nathen	10:06:00 PM
Chapter 1, Part 2	Why Don’t Zebra’s Get Ulcers, ch1	Reading Aloud to Nathen	07:21:00 AM
Chapter 1, Part 3	Why Don’t Zebra’s Get Ulcers, ch1	Reading Aloud to Nathen	06:10:00 PM
Children’s Attachment Relationships	Phillis Booth	Reading Aloud to Nathen	30:05:00
Circle of Security – Terminology	CoS	Reading Aloud to Nathen	12:46:00 PM
Committed Ch 5 (pt 2) Marriage and Women	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	03:52:00 AM
Committed Ch 5 (pt 3) Marriage and Women	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	08:07:00 AM
Committed Ch 5 (pt 4) Marriage and Women	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	04:13:00 AM
Committed Ch 5 (pt 5) Marriage and Women	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	09:02:00 AM
Committed Ch 5 (Pt 7) – Marriage and Women	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	06:22:00 PM
Committed Ch 7 (pt 1) – Marriage and Subversion	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	10:21:00 AM
Committed Ch 7 (pt 2) – Marriage and Subversion	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	42:02:00
Committed Ch 7 (pt 3) – Marriage and Subversion	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	05:21:00 PM
Committed Ch 7 (pt 4) – Marriage and Subversion	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	12:34:00 PM
Committed Ch 8 – Marriage and Ceremony	Elizabeth Gilbert	Committed	08:25:00 PM
Committed: Ch 1 Marriage and Surprises	Elizabeth Gilbert	Reading Aloud to Nathen	50:31:00
Committed: Ch 2 (pt. 1) Marriage and Expectation	Elizabeth Gilbert	Reading Aloud to Nathen	35:17:00
Committed: Ch 2 (pt. 2) Marriage and Expectation	Elizabeth Gilbert	Reading Aloud to Nathen	08:50:00 PM
Committed: Ch 3 (pt. 1) Marriage and History	Elizabeth Gilbert	Reading Aloud to Nathen	01:05:07 AM
Committed: Ch 3 (pt. 2) Marriage and History	Elizabeth Gilbert	Reading Aloud to Nathen	03:38:00 PM
Committed: Ch 4 (pt 1) Marriage and Infatuation	Elizabeth Gilbert	Reading Aloud to Nathen	01:34:14 AM
Committed: Ch 4 (pt 2) Marriage and Infatuation	Elizabeth Gilbert	Reading Aloud to Nathen	07:37:00 PM
Death on a horse’s back	Robert J Barrett	Reading Aloud to Nathen	168:00:00
Dharma Punx	Noah Levine	Reading Aloud to Nathen	05:33:00 PM
The End of Innocence 1	Dusty Miller	Reading Aloud to Nathen	12:45:00 AM
The End of Innocence 2	Dusty Miller	Reading Aloud to Nathen	42:08:00
Family Process // The Language of Becoming	Ellen Wachtel	Reading Aloud to Nathen	01:04:24 AM
Feminism & Family Therapy 1	Virginia Goldner, PhD	Reading Aloud to Nathen	34:43:00
Feminism & Family Therapy 2	Virginia Goldner, PhD	Reading Aloud to Nathen	01:03:00 AM
Feminism & Family Therapy 3	Virginia Goldner, PhD	Reading Aloud to Nathen	28:33:00
Feminism & Family Therapy 4	Virginia Goldner, PhD	Reading Aloud to Nathen	03:49:00 AM
Fixed (New Yorker)	Jill Lapore	Reading Aloud to Nathen	32:04:00
Impact on Family Therapist of a focus on death, dying	Becvar	Reading Aloud to Nathen	06:41:00 PM
Impact, pt 2	Becvar	Reading Aloud to Nathen	10:59:00 PM
Introduction, 1	Appetites	Reading Aloud to Nathen	05:36:00 AM
Introduction, 2	Appetites	Reading Aloud to Nathen	04:32:00 AM
Introduction, 3	Appetites	Reading Aloud to Nathen	06:34:00 AM
Introduction, 4	Appetites	Reading Aloud to Nathen	37:26:00
The last time I wore a dress – CH 11	Daphne Scholinski	Reading Aloud to Nathen	08:28:00 PM
The Last Time I wore a dress – Ch 12	Daphne Scholinski	Reading Aloud to Nathen	38:52:00
The Lobotomist	Jack El-Hai	Reading Aloud to Nathen	24:06:00
Marry Me	St. Vincent	Marry Me	04:41:00 AM
Minnie Mouse and Gunfire, Lucky Child	Luong Ung	Reading Aloud to Nathen	29:49:00
My Angel Rocks Back and Forth	Four Tet	Rounds	05:07:00 AM
My Lobotomy	Howard Dully	Reading Aloud to Nathen	32:41:00
Paris is the cruelest month	Alan Alda	Reading Aloud to Nathen	09:32:00 PM
Passionate Marriage	David Schnarch	Reading Aloud to Nathen	42:45:00
Prozac Nation	Elizabeth Wurtzel	Reading Aloud to Nathen	42:05:00
Real Weddings	Media Hill Publication	Reading Aloud to Nathen	06:44:00 AM
Running With Scissors	Augustin Burroughs	Reading Aloud to Nathen	38:30:00
Solution Focused Therapy – A	Molnar & Shazer 1987	Reading Aloud to Nathen	10:01:00 PM
Solution Focused Therapy – B	Molnar & Shazer 1987	Reading Aloud to Nathen	12:49:00 AM
Solution Focused Therapy – C	Molnar & Shazer 1987	Reading Aloud to Nathen	05:39:00 AM
Stubborn Twig	Lauren Kessler	Reading Aloud to Nathen	52:15:00
Sybil, CH 7	Flora Rheta Schrieber	Reading Aloud to Nathen	37:47:00
Truth Telling	Candib	Reading Aloud to Nathen	39:31:00
Truth Telling, pt 2	Candib	Reading Aloud to Nathen	08:22:00 PM
Understanding the Rainforest Mind	Paula Prober	Reading Aloud to Nathen	09:36:00 PM
An Unquiet Mind	Kay Jamison	Reading Aloud to Nathen	38:33:00
The Voices of Children – 1	Sandra Stith	Reading Aloud to Nathen	04:45:00 AM
The Voices of Children – 2	Sandra Stith	Reading Aloud to Nathen	03:06:00 PM
The Voices of Children – 3	Sandra Stith	Reading Aloud to Nathen	36:03:00
Where is the Mango Princess	Cathy Crimmins	Reading Aloud to Nathen	30:07:00
You Ain’t Got No Easter Clothes	Laura Love	Reading Aloud to Nathen	38:06:00

April 12, 2010

Assessing Family Violence

Posted by Nathen under alcohol abuse, battering, Couples and Family Therapy, family assessment, jealousy, lists, reading, violence
1 Comment

I will start seeing clients this summer, so I’m reading two texts about how to structure my sessions, Procedures in Marriage and Family Therapy, by Brock and Barnard, and Essential Skills in Family Therapy, by Patterson. One of the things I am to assess as a top priority is the possibility of family violence. (I’ll get a whole class on this next year.) It’s almost always perpetrated by a male. According to Patterson, battering is the biggest cause of injury to women. Here is Brock & Barnard’s list of characteristics that can help identify violent men (p. 46):

1) Believes in the traditional home, family, and gender stereotypes

2) Has low self-esteem and may use violence to demonstrate power or adequacy

3) May be sadistic, pathologically jealous, or passive-aggressive

4) Has a Jekyll and Hyde personality, capable of great charm

5) Believes in the moral rightness of his violent behavior even though he may go too far at times

6) Has perpetrated past violent behavior, which includes witnessing, receiving, and committing violent acts, violent acts during childhood; violent acts towards pets or inanimate objects; and has criminal record, long military service, or temper tantrums

7) Indicates alcohol abuse

To this list, Patterson adds preoccupation with weapons or control.

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