Abstract
Until recently (the mid-1950s) psychiatrists rarely treated the families of their patients. Until that time, any intensive and direct involvement with families was seen at least as undesirable, if not as incompatible with good psychiatric practice. The reasons for this lay in the fear that family contacts would undermine the patient’s trust in the psychiatrist, as well as complicate and contaminate the doctor-patient relationship, which plays such a key role in successful psychotherapy.
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Recommended for Further Reading
ACKERMAN, N. W. The Psychodynamics of Family Life. New York, Basic Books, 1958. —the original, definitive textbook in the area of family theory.
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© 1977 Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Steinhauer, P.D. (1977). The Child and His Family. In: Steinhauer, P.D., Rae-Grant, Q. (eds) Psychological Problems of the Child and His Family. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-81464-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-81464-0_3
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