Children in context: the role of the family in child psychotherapy

Abstract

Over the past several decades, both individual and family-oriented approaches to child therapy have been shown to be of moderate success in reducing children's psychological and behavioral problems. However, the data from comparative outcome research do not yet allow us to determine whether one approach is superior to the other in a broad sense; nor has the research addressed the more prudent question of whether there are specific conditions under which one approach may be preferable to the other. In this article, family factors related to child psychopathology are identified, and it is argued that researchers and clinicians interested in the question of family involvement should increase their focus on the presence of family process variables that may be actively contributing to the child's difficulties. Research issues and clinical guidelines are outlined.