FAMILY THERAPY : AN INTIMATE HISTORY

This text follows the journey of one curious and questioning therapist from an instrumental, causal approach to family therapy to a collaborative, communal one. Because Lynn Hoffman has been in the field for almost 40 years and has worked with many of its influential thinkers, this text also presents a history of family therapy's evolution. This work reminds readers that, however big and impressive the theories, family therapy is very much a human endeavor. Hoffman revisits the experiences, ideas and relationships that have informed her journey and presents them both as she percieved them at the time, and as she percieves them now looking back. Through this process of reflective conversation, she creates not only a legacy out of the people and situations that acted on her most powerfully but also counter-tradition to the strategic approach that influenced her so strongly early in her career.