Family Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice

For courses in Marriage and Family Counseling, Marital Therapy, and Family Therapy.

The most thorough and well-written text in the field, Family Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice, now in its fourth edition, is a comprehensive and developmental textbook that covers all aspects of working with families. The author begins by helping students understand the differences between functional and dysfunctional families, then goes onto explain the basic processes involved in treating couples and families before it delves into a dozen theoretical ways of treating families. Readers will also learn about the history of family therapy, multicultural aspects of family therapy, ways of working with various types of families, ethical and legal issues involved in family therapy, and ways of assessing families.  The fourth edition has been thoroughly updated and revised to include over 250 new sources; a new chapter on how to work with couples and marriages in enriching and therapeutic ways; more on diversity issues including working with different forms of European American families, and expanded coverage of working with African-American, Native American Indian, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian-American families; an added section on dealing with infidelity in the addiction/abuse chapter; coverage of transition issues including working with military deployment or extended work assignments; and more information on managed care issues.

Samuel T. Gladding is professor of counselor education, director of the counselor education program, and the associate provost at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has been a practicing counselor in both public and private agencies since 1971. His leadership in the field of counseling includes service as

• president of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES),
• president of the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW),
• president of Chi Sigma Iota (international academic and professional counseling honor society),
• vice president of the Counseling Association for Humanistic Education and Development (C-AHEAD), and
• president of the Alabama Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

Dr. Gladding is the former editor of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work and the ASGW newsletter. He is also the author of more than 100 professional publications. In 1999, he was cited as being in the top 1% of contributors to the Journal of Counseling and Development for the 15-year period from 1978 to 1993. Some of Gladding's most recent books include The Counseling Dictionary (2001); Counseling: A Comprehensive Profession, Fourth Edition (2000); Group Work: A Counseling Specialty, Third Edition (1999); The Creative Arts in Counseling, Second Edition (1998); and this edition of Family Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice (2002).

Dr. Gladding's previous academic appointments have been at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Fairfield University (Connecticut), and Rockingham Community College (Wentworth, North Carolina). He was also director of Children's Services at the Rockingham County (North Carolina) Mental Health Center. Cladding received his degrees from Wake Forest (B.A., M.A. Ed.), Yale (M.A.R.), and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro (Ph.D.). He is a National Certified Counselor, a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, and a Licensed Professional Counselor (North Carolina). He is a former member of the Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling and a current member of the Research and Assessment Corporation for Counseling (RACC).

Dr. Gladding is the recipient of numerous honors, including

• the Chi Sigma Iota Thomas J. Sweeney professional Leadership Award,
• the Counseling Association for Humanistic Education and Development Joseph W and Lucille U. Hopis Outstanding Publication Award,
• the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Professional Leadership Award, and
• the Association for Specialists in Group Work Eminent Career Award.

He is also a Fellow of the Association for Specialists in Group Work.

Dr. Gladding is married to the former Claire Tillson and the father of three children―Ben, Nate, and Tim. Outside of counseling, he enjoys tennis, swimming, and humor.