IT DOES NOT SEEM untoward at this time to state
that family approaches to treating symptoms have -come of age." In a recent literature review, Gurman and Kniskern57 found
over 200 family- and marital-treatment
studies that present outcome data—to say nothing of the hundreds of other
related papers on theory and technique of family treatment.53 Of the outcome research in which nonbehavioral family therapy was directly compared with other
modes of treatment, the former emerged with superior results in two-thirds of
the studies and equal results in the
remainder.57 Given that family approaches have attained a position of viability and credibility, it is appropriate
to ask about specific applicabilities and limitations. One such potential limitation pertains to the extent to which clients
can actually be engaged in family
treatment. This issue is hardly new to the field of psychotherapy, and has occupied many pages of the
literature on individual therapies.
However, the task for family therapy seems greater, as it frequently requires that a number of people be directly involved in treatment. This chapter addresses many
of the problems that arise in engaging families. Principles and techniques for
getting them into treatment are
presented, most of which apply both to families
of addicts and other "resistant- families.
M. DUNCAN STANTON THOMAS C. TODD
