Family Therapists Have Families Too

Reviews the book, The Family Life of Psychotherapists: Clinical Implications edited by Florence W. Kaslow (1987). The personal impact of maintaining a family therapy practice is often felt most keenly by female professionals who are also committed to maintaining traditional roles as wives and mothers. A systematic exposition of these relations between family living and family practice would provide a timely and informative book. The present volume falls short in this regard, primarily because it is not a book. It is an issue of the Journal of Psychotherapy and the Family, bound in a slim hardcover without an index. The shortcomings of a nonbook notwithstanding, many parts of this volume are well done. The individual articles are well and clearly written, reflecting considerable clinical sophistication, and touch in one way or another on three important recurring themes: First, being a family therapist and being a family member are interactive experiences, the effects of which go both ways. Second, being a professional psychotherapist who works with families exposes clinicians to multiple sources of personal strain. Third, being an effective family practitioner requires awareness of one's own family experiences, past and present. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)