Editorial: The Multidisciplinary World of Couple and Family Therapy and Family Science

• Author: Jay L. Lebow
• Published date: 01 December 2017
• Date: 01 December 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12324

DECEMBER 2017 VOLUME 56 NUMBER 4

Editorial: The Multidisciplinary World of Couple and

Family Therapy and Family Science

JAY L. LEBOW*

Fam Proc 56:795–798, 2017

In this issue, we feature an article by John Rolland (2017), the eminent family psychia-

trist, focused on the challenges for couples and families of neurocognitive impairment

in a family member. In this article, Rolland brings his special expertise for working with

families and health issues to this growing public health issue.

Beyond imparting better understanding to the issues in these families and how to work

with those issues in the clinical context, Rolland’s article calls our attention to the special

role psychiatrists and family physicians have had in the development of couple and family

therapy. Many of the early innovators in the field were psychiatrists; the list includes Sal-

vatore Minuchin, Nathan Ackerman, Carl Whitaker, Murray Bowen, Clifford Sager, Car-

los Sluzki, Donald Bloch, Peter Steinglass, Ellen Berman, Chris Beels, Mara Selvini-

Palazzoli, and many others. This psychiatrist participation reflected the profoundly multi-

disciplinary nature of early family therapy and family science. Family therapy emerged

from one of the richest amalgams of various disciplines in the history of investigation. In

addition to psychiatrists; psychologists, social workers, counselors, and early marriage

and family therapists were well represented with additional input from nurses, anthropol-

ogists, sociologists, engineers, biologists, and communication scientists. These pioneers’

vision drew from myriads of other fields, ranging from systems theory, physics, theater,

film, and literature into a most interesting crucible of ideas and methods. I once talked to

Carl Whitaker about a family I was treating, and he responded by referring to the art of

Robert Motherwell. That era was a very interesting time.

However, we are losing the multidisciplinary foundation of the field. This editorial is

not a lament. I have written in these pages about the many advances in couple and family

therapy, most especially the development of a true family science (Balderrama-Durbin,

Fissette, & Snyder, 2016; Beach, Brody, & Kogan, 2016; Beach, Foran et al., 2016; Brock,

Kroska, & Lawrence, 2016; Lebow & Sexton, 2016; Lietz, Julien-Chinn, Geiger, & Hayes

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

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jay L. Lebow, Ph.D., Family Institute at

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

795

Family Process, Vol. 56, No. 4, 2017 ©2017 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12324