Object relations family therapy /

Object relations theory is a style of psychoanalytic formulation and practice more current in Britain than North America. Being individual-and individual development centered-object relations theory has not been close to the family therapy movement. David Scharff and Jill Savege Scharff are psychoanalysts who know the British tradition at first hand and now work in the Washington, DC, area. In this volume they try to formulate object relations theory and practice in a way compatible with family therapy. Theoretical exposition is interwoven with practical discussions and illustrated with case vignettes in a skillful and readable manner. For psychoanalytically oriented practitioners this volume will make family therapy palatable. Family therapists, by contrast, will find that the search for similarities obscures some central differences in both philosophy and practice. For these readers, Michael Nichols's Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods (CH, Jun '84) will give a sense of both similarities and differences.-N.W. Bell, University of Toronto