Marriage & Family Therapy Research Guide

Christian therapists doing family therapy have never had a resource to help them navigate the various family therapy theories from a Christian perspective--until now.In this book Mark A. Yarhouse and James N. Sells survey the major approaches to family therapy and treat, within a Christian framework, significant psychotherapeutic issues. The wide array of issues covered includes crisis and trauma, marital conflict, separation, divorce and blended families, individual psychopathology, substance abuse and addictions, gender, culture, economic class and race, and sexual identity. Calling for an integrated approach of "responsible eclecticism," they conclude with a vision for Christian family therapy.A landmark work providing critical Christian engagement with existing models of family therapy, this volume is highly recommended for anyone who works with families.

In the past century psychology has been practiced in the manner of medical science, working from the assumption that therapy can transcend particular traditions. Seeking to move the conversation forward, Alvin Dueck and Kevin Reimer argue for a theologically, culturally, and politically sensitive psychotherapy whereby the Christian psychologist treats the patient according to the particulars of the patient's political situation and ethnic and religious tradition, while acknowledging the role of his or her own Christian story in therapeutic dialogue. A Peaceable Psychology encourages mental health practitioners to mine their own traditions for gifts of healing and to allow clients to bring their native ethnic or religious voice into therapy. The authors point to the life of Jesus as the foundation on which to build a therapeutic ethic, appropriating the story of his life to bring healing.This integrative work considers philosophy, ethics, theology, and cognitive science in making an argument on behalf of and for the psychological community. It will benefit psychology professors and students, Christian psychologists and psychotherapists, mental health workers, pastors, and theologians.