The Challenge of Family Therapy

This volume on Family Therapy Training, edited by Kalman Flomenhaft, Ph. D. and Adolph E. Christ, M. D. , is the outgrowth of a successful conference on Family Therapy in the Training of Child Psychiatrists sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry at the Downstate Medical Center on December 8 and 9, 1978. The attendance and enthusiastic participation at this conference reflected the growing interest on the part of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in the theory, practice, and teaching of family therapy. That the conference was held at all presupposed the value that psychiatric educators are attaching to the incorporation of family therapy teaching in the educational development of psychiatrists. While the conference was dedicated to family therapy training for child psychiatrists, this volume is broadened to include family therapy training for all psychiatrists and mental health profes­ sionals. The various chapters delineate the issues in the teaching of family therapy, both theoretical and practical. The richness of the chapters that follow grows out of the depth of practical experience of the various authors in developing family therapy training in established programs where resistance to new ideas as well as structural changes in curriculum are predictable. The nature of both the theoretical and practical aspects of such resistances is well described. The authors also emphasize what is required to launch a successful training program in child psychiatry, stressing the importance of attractive role models as teachers of family therapy.