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What determines whether stepfamilies remain together? What helps stepfamilies overcomes the difficulties of remarriage and become mutually supportive family units? How can mental health professionals better support this development? This book brings both clarity and depth to the unique and complex dynamics of remarried families. Patricia Papernow draws on interviews with over 100 stepfamily members, up-to-date research, a solid theoretical framework, and an empathic clinical sensibility to present an insightful model of stepfamily development, the Stepfamily Cycle. This details account of the sages of forming a lasting, cohesive group is richly illustrated by stepfamily members' own stories. Becoming a Stepfamily describes the developmental challenges involved in building nourishing, reliable relationships between stepparents and stepchildren, in the newly married couple, and between different family groups who must learn to live together in a remarried family. Papernow discusses the factors that influence the pace and ease of development, and she provides four full length case studies illustrating the varied paths through the stepfamily cycle to the successful remarried life. The author offers therapists, clergy, school personnel, and others involved with stepfamilies a range of effective interventions, including preventive, educational, and clinical approaches. She provides practical guidance for helping family members deal constructively with the differing attachments of children to their biological parents and stepparents, assisting stepparents as they cope with feeling excluded from the powerful biological parent-child bond, and guiding biological parents torn between their spouse's need for intimacy and privacy and their children's needs for support and attention.
Despite the growing number of stepfamilies, and the recognition that they experience unique difficulties related to their complex family dynamics, there is very little support available to them. In this practical, evidence-based guide Lisa Doodson offers a valuable resource for professionals working with stepfamilies, giving insight into their unique nature and guidance on how to provide more effective support and advice. In addition to the wealth of research and knowledge that the book shares, there are a range of case studies which illustrate issues that the different types of stepfamilies frequently face. Each chapter also contains practical tools and exercises that professionals can use with their clients to help facilitate change in the family unit, as well as interventions including mediation and group workshops, and more traditional counselling techniques. Understanding Stepfamilies is a must have resource for counsellors and therapists, social workers, local authorities, charities and teaching professionals working with stepfamilies.
This much-needed resource offers insight into building and maintaining satisfying and successful stepfamily relationships. As the number of stepfamilies continues to increase, counselors and other mental health professionals are likely to encounter clients seeking help in navigating these often complicated relationships. In this book, Dr. Gold emphasizes the principles and practices of narrative therapy as a means to address key concerns within the family system, reauthor dominant social myths surrounding stepfamily life, and create realistic treatment plans that are inclusive of all members of the family. Detailing the inherent strengths and challenges of the stepfamily experience, he provides an in-depth examination of the roles of each member in a blended family, including stepfathers and stepmothers, ex-spouses, grandparents, and children. This book is an excellent guide to thoughtful, practical, and empirically validated interventions for helping stepfamilies thrive. *Requests for digital versions from ACA can be found on www.wiley.com. *To purchase print copies, please visit the ACA website *Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected].
The author proceed to regard stepfamilies as different-not better or worse-than the nuclear family for successful therapy. While it is designed to be concise, the book offers a comprehensive look at this topic. The Vishers have crafted a text that will be equally useful to therapists working with stepfamilies, those unfamiliar with the field, and as a text for therapy training programs
This volume focuses on a wide range of behaviors and outcomes in stepfamily relationships, both positive and negative. The authors use the normative-adaptive perspective to seek out and study adaptive, well-functioning stepfamilies and find how they differ from those who struggle to cope. It will be a welcome text and reference for all those who study and work with stepfamilies and families in general.
First Published in 1980. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Based on a landmark longitudinal study, the nation's leading expert on stepfamilies reveals his breakthrough findings and offers the first detailed guide to easing the conflicts of stepfamily life and healing the scars of divorce. There are more than twenty million stepfamilies in America. For most of them, the simple, daily issues that challenge every family are even more anxiety-provoking. After conducting a comprehensive nine-year-long study funded by the National Institutes of Health, Dr. James H. Bray has written an invaluable book that explains why over half of all stepfamilies fail and reveals the strategies that help the others succeed. A stepfamily is assaulted on all sides by difficult and often divisive questions. How much control should a stepparent have over a stepchild? How much authority should a nonresidential parent exert over a child? How should a difficult former spouse be handled? How does an "ours" baby change the emotional dynamic in a stepfamily? Why is there a lack of "honeymoon effect" during the first years of stepfamily life? The purpose of Stepfamilies is to answer all the important questions of stepfamily life--to fill in the knowledge gaps that undermine so many stepfamilies today and, crucially, to learn the effect of stepfamily life on children. Based on one of the largest and longest studies of stepfamily life ever conducted, Stepfamilies interweaves the stories of real families to illustrate such study findings as how: a stepfamily has its own natural life cycle a stepfamily takes several years to develop into a family unit a stepfamily is at greatest risk during the first two years a stepfamily ultimately coalesces into one of three forms a stepfamily must solve four basic tasks in order to succeed a stepfamily can help heal the scars of divorce Filled with emotional, gripping stories, Bray's findings pinpoint the three major transitions in stepfamily life and identify the riskiest issues that can throw a family into crisis. Bray is the first to identify the several distinct forms that stepfamilies take and to explore which types of stepfamilies are more vulnerable than others and why. He also describes the natural life cycle of stepfamilies and basic tasks all stepfamilies must undertake to succeed. With a wealth of insight into the positive effects of remarriage, Bray shows how a loving, well-functioning stepfamily can lessen the trauma of divorce and restore a child's and family's sense of security. Most stepparents remarry with the highest hopes and new resolutions for a better life. Never before have their unique needs been addressed in depth. Through insightful case studies and practical advice, Stepfamilies reveals how a strong, stable stepfamily is as capable as a nuclear family of nurturing healthy development, of imbuing values, of setting limits and boundaries, and of providing a structure in which rules for living a moral and productive life are transmitted, tested, rebelled against, and ultimately affirmed. Bray's positive message and fascinating findings--many of which defy intuition--will put stepfamilies on the road to lifelong harmony.