Abstract
Can the precise moment of an event, such as the beginning of a scientific discipline or profession, be pinpointed with any degree of accuracy? In the case of the family therapy movement, as in similar situations, probably not. As Mueller (1979) points out, as one attempts to decide which of several persons or which one of several dates seems most appropriate to mark a “beginning,” it becomes apparent that what we gain from such an exercise is found less in understanding “when, where, and who” and more in an appreciation of “what” was begun. Whether in art or literature, in research or professional practice, the traditional inward looking view of Western man began to be viewed as too constricting without a view of the social context in which that person functioned. Typically, that context involved interaction within the family structure. In order to change the maladaptive, problematic, or dysfunctional behavior, some clinicians began to recognize it would be necessary to alter the context in which that behavior occurred. Without necessarily stating it as such—or perhaps without themselves even realizing it—they had adopted a family therapy orientation to therapeutic intervention.
But before I treat a patient like yourself I need to know a great deal more about him than the patient himself can always tell me. Indeed, it is often the case that my patients are only pieces of a total situation which I have to explore. The single patient who is ill by himself, is rather the exception.
—T. S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party, 1949
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Goldenberg, I., Goldenberg, H. (1983). Historical Roots of Contemporary Family Therapy. In: Wolman, B.B., Stricker, G., Framo, J., Newirth, J.W., Rosenbaum, M., Young, H.H. (eds) Handbook of Family and Marital Therapy. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4442-1_5
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