• 1993 82pp paperback ISBN: 9780943158792
• A Practitioner's Resource Series Title
In his foreword Dr. Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy writes "...the rich
illustrative/clinical materials of this book provide a very useful contribution
to the literature. It is a helpful reading even for the reader who is familiar
with the basic texts of the approach... [Dr. Goldenthal] has been able to grasp
and distinguish the ethical dimension of relationship as a key therapeutic
factor. The illustrations from his practice will help the reader to see how
many contextual principles may be applied in working with families in general
and with children in particular."
This unique and powerful integrative
approach to the treatment of individuals, couples, and families brings together
individual psychodynamic thinking and family systems formulations and concepts.
This book will help clinicians ask appropriate questions about fairness in
family relationships. Vignettes illustrating clinical interventions are
included. The flavor and richness of the complex and innovative approach
developed by Boszormenyi-Nagy and his colleagues is ably captured by the author. A truly unique and timeless title.
"This practical guide to a complex and sophisticated therapeutic
method is clear, straightforward, and not oversimplified. The author, an
experienced psychologist and family therapist, understands and appreciates the
depth dimensions of contextual therapy, and has been able to explicate and
elaborate the major procedural steps of assessment, treatment, and termination.
Several clinical vignettes vividly demonstrate how the therapist intervenes -
the 'how to do it' of contextual therapy, especially with families of young
children and adolescents."
-Judith Grunebaum,
LICSW, Executive Committee and Faculty, Couple and Family
Center, Cambridge Hospital, Department of Psychiatry; Lecturer on Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School
Table of Contents
BACKGROUND
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK
The Existential Dimension
The Psychological Dimension
The Dimension of Transactions and Power
The Dimension of Fairness in Balancing Give and Take in Relationships
Distinctions Between Fairness and Other Dimensions
BASIC CONCEPTS OF FAIRNESS IN RELATIONSHIPS
The Right to Give
Joey: A Child's Right to Give to a "Abusive" Mother (Vignette #1)
An Intergenerational Perspective
Loyalty
Sheila and Robbie: Two Case Illustrations of Split Loyalty
Destructive Parentification
Therapeutic Leverage
Constructive Entitlement
Destructive Entitlement
Reliance on Constructive Versus Destructive Entitlement
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CONTEXTUAL ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
How Assessment Issues Blend into Treatment Issues
Multidirected Partiality
Structuring Techniques
Some Practical Issues
Session Attendance and Participation
Privacy
Responses to Emergencies
Custody Evaluations
CONTEXTUAL ASSESSMENT
Sequence of Steps in Assessment
Assessing Psychological Factors
Assessing Individual and Family History
Assessing Family Transactions
Paul: A Scapegoated Child
Assessing Fairness Issues
Assessment of Injustice, Destructive Entitlement, and Parentification
Eunice: A Case of Injustice as the Result of Chronic Illness (Vignette #1)
Ricky: A Father's Destructive Entitlement Arising from a Serious Medical Condition (Vignette #1)
Sally: Parentification as the Result of a Parent's Reliance on Destructive Entitlement
Debbie: Injustice Leading to Reliance on Destructive Entitlement and Parentification (Vignette #2)
Mr. S: Parentification and Invisible Loyalty
INTERVENTION PROCEDURES
Assessing Fairness Issues Leads Directly to Intervention
The M Family: Initial Session
Anger and Disruptive Behaviors in Children
The M Family: Later Sessions
Roberta: Anger, Depression, and Substance Abuse in Adolescence
Multidirected Partiality Versus Impartiality
Kerry: Multidirected Partiality and Split Loyalty
The A Family: Partiality to Divorced Parents
The B Family: Multidirected Partiality in a Case of Parental Separation
The C Family: Severe Marital Discord and Split Loyalty
Uncovering Resources
Acknowledgment
Joseph: Acknowledgement of a Child's Giving to His Parent
Kevin: Multidirected Partiality and Acknowledgment of a Child's Concern for an Ill Parent
Bobby: Acknowledgment of Giving Between Siblings
Albert: Acknowledgment of Caretaking Behavior
Eunice: Acknowledgment of Unfairness (Vignette #2)
Giving Room
Jack: Giving Room in a Case of Subtle Parentification
The Funnel: A Model for Timing Interventions
Crediting
Debbie: Crediting Injustice (Vignette #2)
Ricky: Multidirected Partiality to a "Neglectful" Parent (Vignette #2)
Lending Weight
Exoneration
Ms. H: Partiality to a Grandparent
Helping Parents to Provide Their Children Opportunities to Give
SUMMARY
REFERENCES
About the Author
Peter Goldenthal, PhD, has conducted numerous professional training
workshops, seminars, and continuing education programs focused on contextual
treatment with couples, children, and families under the auspices of the
American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, and other professional groups. With over 14 years of experience as
a family therapist, he is active in both the training and supervision of family
therapists and serves as an approved supervisor for the American Association of
Marriage and Family Therapy. Dr. Goldenthal received his doctorate in clinical
psychology from the University of Connecticut, interned at Worcester Youth
Guidance Center, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in psychology at Harvard Medical
School. He has also held academic appointments at Bryn Mawr College, the
University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Delaware. Dr. Goldenthal has
earned Diplomates in both Clinical Psychology and Family Psychology from the
American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He is licensed as a
psychologist in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. In addition to
maintaining private practices in both King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and
Wilmington, Delaware, he currently serves as Director of the Outpatient Unit and
Family Study Center of The Terry Children's Psychiatric Center in New Castle,
Delaware.
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