1. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 II. Foundations of Family Therapy Power Point presentation prepared by Leslie Barnes-Young, PhD, Francis Marion University “This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of program.”

2. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 Numerous phenomena gave rise to family therapy and the systems perspective in the 1940s & 1950s: WWII Small group dynamics Marriage Counseling Research on schizophrenia The Child Guidance Movement

3. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 WWII Department of Defense researchers utilized new technology to manufacture guided missile systems that relied on feedback to find their target. Gregory Bateson applied the concept of feedback loops to describe families and the interactions between members.

4. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 Small Group Dynamics Early practitioners discovered the healing power of group therapy. They sought to apply group therapy to families. Groups are: –Transcendent –Focused less on content and more on the interactions between members –Allow members to take on new roles

5. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 The Child Guidance Movement Child guidance clinics exist in almost every major city. They provide for the study and treatment of childhood problems. This movement, begun in the years following WWII, included parents in therapy. Clinics now widely practice family therapy.

6. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 Research on schizophrenia– Lots of federal funding in the 1940s & 1950s. Researchers noted that some patients improved when removed from their families.

7. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 Marriage counseling Emerged as a treatment modality independent of the child guidance movement. The first professional centers were established in the 1930s. The field was eventually absorbed into the family therapy movement.

8. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 In sum, Many disparate influences produced the family therapy movement. Seeds were sown in the 1940s. The field is still quite young and continues to evolve.

9. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003 To learn more about child guidance clinics and their impact today: The Akron Child Guidance Center http://www.childgc.org/ Ackerman Institute for the Family http://www.ackerman.org/