Description: Hailed by early reviewers as "a breakthrough book", "one that defines an exciting new field", Medical Family Therapy is a pioneering work that offers a new approach to psychotherapy - one that addresses the psychological and interpersonal problems that arise with an illness, accident, or intractable medical problem. As medicine has moved from a general practice model based on family-oriented care and house calls to a more technologically sophisticated biomedical model often perceived as impersonal and emotionally sterile, patient care has come to suffer more from interpersonal conflict or lack of communication than lack of medical knowledge. Medical Family Therapy shows therapists how they can work together with other health professionals to coordinate care for the benefit of patients and their families. The book shows how to utilize both the family and the medical team as resources. It also shows how to help patients take charge of those aspects of their illness over which they do have control - and accept those over which they do not. The authors detail their medical family therapy model, a biopsychosocial family systems approach that operates in collaboration with patients, families, health care professionals, and community groups. Vivid case examples illustrate their techniques and demonstrate work with patients who have common medical problems ranging from terminal and chronic illness to infertility and such lifestyle issues as smoking and obesity. This book is an ideal guide for therapists who wish to move beyond the limitations of traditional mental health training and expand the horizons of their practice.

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