The Effective Family Therapist

Abstract

Although family therapy researchers to date have provided no direct tests of hypotheses related to the therapist's "use of self," some data do exist on the broader, but closely related, question of what constitutes an effective family therapist, in terms of both enduring individual characteristics and styles of behavior in the actual conduct of therapy. This paper reviews existing data on this question, and addresses certain matters pertaining to the impact of research on clinical practice, as considered in the context of the question of what constitutes an effective family therapist.