Understanding Diverse Families: What Practitioners Need to Know - Softcover

Okun, Barbara F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1572304170 ISBN 13: 9781572304178

Publisher: Guilford Press, 1998

Synopsis

Today's mental health practitioners face a rapidly changing clientele. Divorce, remarriage, multiracial marriages, different types of adoption, openly gay and lesbian relationships--all have significantly altered the nature and composition of families. An indispensable classroom text and an important resource for clinicians working in private practice, managed care, and other settings, this book insightfully examines a range of healthy families with creative family structures.

About this title

Review

"A groundbreaking contribution....Having been involved in multicultural psychology all my professional life, I have found the traditional Euro-American definition of 'family' inadequate and detrimental in a culturally diverse society. Okun provides a conceptual framework that allows us to redefine families, to understand the historical, political, and sociocultural influences on current families, and to articulate clinical issues relevant to mental health practitioners. What is outstanding about the book is the unusual balance between theoretical, research, and subjective perspectives. Okun's book contains the voices of many couples and families whom she has interviewed over the years. Thus, academic and intellectual concepts are brought to life by the many who reside in families different from our own." --Derald Wing Sue, PhD, California State University, and California School of Professional Psychology

"Barbara Okun's admirable book profoundly challenges our society's predominant definitions of family....Well-researched, comprehensive, and easy to read, Understanding Diverse Families should be required reading for all family therapists. It raises profound challenges about what a family is, exploding once and for all the myth that it takes two biological parents, and in particular one primary caretaker mother, to have a family. Instead, Okun shows us that workable, happy, productive, vibrant, and committed families come in a great variety of constellations. She has a broad perspective on the societal factors that impinge on families and offers a wealth of insight and information about adoptive, gay and lesbian, multicultural, and other families. Bravo for the scholarship, creativity, and insights of this crucial text which will help us to care for all families as we move into the 21st Century." --Monica McGoldrick, LCSW, PhD (h.c.), Family Institute of New Jersey

From the Back Cover

Today's mental health clinicians face a rapidly changing clientele. Divorce, remarriage, multiracial marriages, different types of adoption, openly gay and lesbian relationships - all have significantly altered the nature and composition of families. At the same time, clinicians within managed care organizations have less control over the types of cases that make up their practice. Addressing an important need, this illuminating volume is designed to help practitioners work effectively with diversity in this challenging new environment. It confronts myths and stereotypes about what is considered "normal" and what constitutes a "family", insightfully examines a range of healthy families with creative family structures, and expands our notions about how families work. Synthesizing current literature with information obtained through first-person interviews, the book begins with an overview of contemporary family forms. Chapters then provide an in-depth examination of three types of families: adoptive, gay and lesbian, and multiracial. Each is considered first in a sociocultural context, then from a developmental perspective, and finally with an eye to treatment implications. Issues associated with single parenthood by choice, grandparent-headed families, and families that have used artificial reproductive technology are also discussed. Throughout, illustrative vignettes present the voices of family members themselves. The book describes the powerful influences of gender, class, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and multiple social systems on individuals and their families. Enhancing its usefulness, the book concludes with a list of resources for parents and children in the family typesdiscussed. Comprehensive and balanced, this volume is intended for practitioners, both novice and experienced, who wish to equip themselves to work in practice as it is today. Also, for graduate students and trainees who have been introduced to theories of personality and family theory, this book serves as an enlightening text for courses in counseling and clinical psychology, social work, psychiatric nursing, family therapy, and psychiatry.

About this edition

• Publisher: Guilford Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1572304170
• ISBN 13: 9781572304178
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376