Editorial: Focusing on Intergenerational Processes and Problems of Family Life in Family Therapy

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12508
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Author: Jay L. Lebow
• Published date: 01 December 2019

DECEMBER 2019 VOLUME 58 NUMBER 4

Editorial: Focusing on Intergenerational Processes

and Problems of Family Life in Family Therapy

JAY L. LEBOW*

Fam Proc 58:793–795, 2019

We are fortunate to have in this issue Mona Fishbane’s (Fishbane, 2019) summary of

her approach to ameliorating intergenerational wounds. This paper is important in

several ways. Most obviously, it describes Fishbane’s innovative method for dealing with

these ubiquitous problems grounded with neurobiological underpinnings. Beyond this, it

also focuses our attention on two presently underrepresented threads in the clinical prac-

tice of family therapy: (1) therapies centered on typical dilemmas and problems in family

life and (2) therapies with an intergenerational focus.

Ironically, both of these foci were central earlier in the history of family therapy.

Although first- and second-generation family therapy included numerous methods tar-

geted to reducing psychopathology (indeed, the examination of family responses to

schizophrenia was a launching point for the field) and focusing on here and now process

(strategic and structural approaches strongly argued for exclusively focusing on present

systemic processes), the presentations, writing, and clinical work of earlier family thera-

pists were filled with attention to typical relational problems and multigenerational pro-

cesses in families. Normal Family Processes (Walsh, 1982) and The Family Life Cycle

(Carter & McGoldrick, 1980) were the titles of highly influential best sellers in the field,

centered on understanding and working with relational processes in typical families

across the life cycle. In the domain of examining intergenerational processes, Monica

McGoldrick (McGoldrick & Gerson, 1985) offered refined methods for creating family gen-

ograms, while Framo (1976) brought family of origin into therapy for the purpose of resolv-

ing inner and interpersonal conflicts. Bowen (1978) published a crucial paper about his

own personal work in the context of his own family that led many family therapy training

programs to include such self-examination as a part of their curricula. Imber-Black (1998)

wrote eloquently about the legacies of family secrets.

*Editor, Family Process, and Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, IL.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jay Lebow, Family Institute at North-

western, 618 Library Place, Evanston, IL 60201. E-mail: j-lebow@northwestern.edu.

793

Family Process, Vol. 58, No. 4, 2019 ©2019 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12508