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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy pp 17–20Cite as

Accommodation in Couple and Family Therapy

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Name of Concept

Accommodation

Synonyms

Adaptation; Adjustment; Joining

Introduction

Accommodation broadly refers to the spontaneous way a system instinctively adapts to coordinate functioning (Nichols 2017). Accommodation has two distinct definitions within the field of marriage and family therapy. The first is defined through a structural lens and describes the techniques a therapist uses to make self-adjustments in order to successfully join with and understand a system’s functioning (Minuchin 1974). The purpose of accommodation in this context is to join with the system to create change.

The second application of accommodation describes the way family members change or adapt their behavior to decrease another family member’s emotional distress often reinforcing an individual’s maladaptive behavior (Calvocoressi et al. 1995). Within the family system, accommodation maintains maladaptive functioning and/or behaviors often through subliminal patterns of interaction. Family...

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References

  • Black, D. A. (2017). Applying systems to anxiety disorders. In J. A. Russo, J. K. Coker, & J. H. King (Eds.), DSM-5 and family systems. New York: Springer.

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  • Calvocoressi, L., Lewis, B., & Harris, M. (1995). Family accommodation in obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152(3), 441–443. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.152.3.441.

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  • Lebowitz, E. R., Woolston, J., Bar-Haim, Y., Calvocoressi, L., Dauser, C., Warnick, E., … & Leckman, J. F. (2012). Family accommodation in pediatric anxiety disorders. Depression and Anxiety, 30(1), 47–54. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.21998.

  • Merlo, L. J., Lehmkuhl, H. D., Geffken, G. R., & Stroch, E. A. (2009). Decreased family accommodation associated with improved therapy outcome in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(2), 355–360. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012652.

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  • Nichols, M. P., & Davis, S. D. (2017). Family therapy: Concepts and methods. Boston: Pearson.

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  • Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Katherine O’Neil & Danielle A. Black

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Danielle A. Black

Authors
  1. Katherine O’Neil
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  2. Danielle A. Black
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katherine O’Neil .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jay L. Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Anthony L. Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Family Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    David Kearns Ph.D.

  2. The Family Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Bahareh Sahebi Psy.D., AMFT

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© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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O’Neil, K., Black, D.A. (2019). Accommodation in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_343

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