Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships What Works and What Doesn't [Paperback]

Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationshipsdraws on current research, a wide variety of clinical modalities, and thirty years of clinical work with stepfamily members to describe the special challenges stepfamilies face. The book presents the concept of stepfamily architecture and the five challenges it creates, and delineates three different levels of strategiespsychoeducation, building interpersonal skills, and intrapsychic workfor meeting those challenges in dozens of different settings.

The model is designed to be useful both to stepfamily members themselves and to a wide variety of practitioners, from a highly trained clinician who needs to know how and when to work on all three levels, to a school counselor or clergy person who may work on the first two levels but refer out for level three. It will also be useful to educators, judges, mediators, lawyers and medical personnel who will practice on the first level, but need to understand the other two to guide their work.

The Families  Key to Genograms  List of Figures  Acknowledgements  Part I: Laying the Foundation for Stepfamily Architecture  1. A Map for Stepfamilies  2. What Makes Stepfamilies Different?  Part II: The Five Challenges  3. The First Challenge: Insider/Outsider Positions are Intense and Stuck  4. The Second Challenge: Children Struggle With Losses, Loyalty Binds, and Too Much Change  5. The Third Challenge: Parenting Tasks Polarize the Adults  6. The Fourth Challenge: Creating a New Family Culture  7. The Fifth Challenge: Ex-Spouses are Part of the Family  Part III: Four Diverse Stepfamilies  8. Stepfamilies Headed by Lesbian and Gay Couples  9. African American Stepfamilies: Strengths We Can Learn From  10. The Chlc0