Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy最新文献

In the last stage of his life, Gregory Bateson worked on a book that eventually became two: Mind and Nature (1979) and Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred (1988). The latter was completed by his daughter Margaret Bateson Mead, after the death of her father in 1980. In Mind and Nature, Bateson compares evolution with the nature of the mental process, concluding that there are patterns that connect thoughts, ideas, and the evolutionary process: they are systems made up of interacting parts that are organized based on relations of similarities or differences. This organization forms a unit (or mind) that has the capacity of responding to information in selfcorrecting ways. Later, in Angels Fear, he wonders about the way in which systems take care of that integrity, and why that is so important. Bateson & Bateson point out that on certain occasions communication is undesirable because it alters the nature of ideas and thus of history, threatening the integrity of the unit. On many occasions what we have learned in our own history and which is manifested in our responses, voices, rites, sacraments, routines and creative acts constitute sacred areas for our lives and therefore we learn not to touch, and keep them in the unsaid. This article reflects on how this understanding of the sacred can have important implications for psychotherapy. These ideas are illustrated with two psychotherapy stories.

This is a personal reflective piece based on my clinical and personal experience in the current environment, which can feel at times oppressive. I situate my critique as an early-career psychologist who holds multiple marginalised identities. Using systemic ideas, particularly coordinated management of meaning, circularity, and reflective teams, I use case examples to illustrate how practitioners can deconstruct power and resist dominant narratives, countering oppressive practice in action. I critique the existing systemic literature in relation to anti-oppressive work and offer suggestions for future research and practice such as holding an anti-oppressive lens and understanding power and difference within the reflecting team.

This paper reflects on the nuanced way in which the therapeutic dialogue establishes a safe space for families to address and give meaning to mortality and the different ways in which they hear, understand, and communicate about impending death. Intergenerational patterns of families responding to and navigating a terminal diagnosis are also considered. Language, the therapist’s own narrative and experience, familial and intergenerational experiences as well as meanings of life-threatening illness are explored. The concept of impending death as haunting is introduced and explored. Adding this ‘existential’ haunting into the formula allows us to consider that impending death offers as an opportunity to ‘unblock’ communication between and within families and at the same time to identify ‘blocked’ communication patterns, thus providing a deeper understanding through an elucidation of rifts between family members and/or developing unexpected possibilities for movement and reconciliation.

Genograms are a key technology for family therapists, but in many respects they remain distinctly underexplored. This is especially the case when it comes to the basic structure of the genogram. Other authors have added other lenses on top (e.g., the cultural genogram, the spirituality genogram, and many others), but very few have explored in depth the core assumptions of the circles and squares which make up a genogram. In this article, I engage with the genogram literature to suggest that these shapes lead the genogram session to proceed in a way which privileges gender identity ahead of all other social graces, through the process of deconstruction. I then consider if a model of genogram creation which uses a universal symbol and then refers to gender later through symbology might allow for greater flexibility and curiosity in genogram sessions. This idea is offered with the intention that practitioners will engage with this deconstruction of the genogram in a variety of different ways.

This article explores professionals’ understanding and experiences of parental high conflicts in Norwegian family counsellor and child welfare services. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, examining four focus group interviews with a total of 24 professionals. We used tame and wicked problems as a theoretical frame of reference in order to discuss how high conflict cases can be understood. The analysis shows that the complexity and experiences of high conflicts challenge professionals in their assessments and development of solutions. Our conclusion is that the nature of the complexity, unpredictability, and instability of high conflicts fits within the framework of wicked problems.

The person of the therapist (POTT) framework is a model of therapist training that can enhance clinicians' attunement and further clinical efficacy. In this autoethnography, two graduate school professors of colour detail their experience of implementing the POTT framework overlaid to academic work. This article presents specific arguments for the use of this model as it furthers therapist accountability and responsiveness. The model's advantages in clinical graduate training are also reviewed.

Many parents raising a child with Down syndrome (DS) express feelings of grief, sadness, disappointment, anger, and frustration related to the child's diagnosis (Sheehan & Guerin, 2017). Although previous authors have not directly used the concept of ambiguous loss when treating parents raising a child with a developmental disability, parents' thoughts and emotions align with ambiguous loss. There is also a cascade of losses for parents while raising a child with DS, such as developmental milestones or never seeing a child graduate. The empty-chair technique (ECH) is used to increase emotional processing and expression of unmet desires (Tsvieli & Diamond, 2018). This article proposes the use of the ECH for parents raising a child with DS for processing the grief of ambiguous loss.