Family Therapy as an Alternative to Medication: An Appraisal of Pharmland

Family Therapy as an Alternative to Medication critically and passionately explores the concepts and practices that constitute the interface between family systems based psychotherapy and modern biological psychiatry. This diverse collection of essays, eight by psychiatrists, is neither for nor against medication, but takes a sceptical view of the unquestioned dominance that medication-based treatments have achieved among mental health practitioners. Its viewpoint is that therapeutic attention to context and relationships, regularly diminished when medications are prescribed, adds to maturity, expands consciousness, and impedes the development of psychiatric disorders. Clinical examples, by both practitioners and patients, are used to define potential problems that arise from trying to combine a medical model with family systems work and also illustrate the decision-making processes and methods for applying family systems based therapies. This book will stimulate thoughtful conversation among students and practitioners of all mental health disciplines.

Phoebe S. Prosky, MSW, studies under family therapy pioneer Nathan Ackerman, MD, and worked and taught at the Ackerman Institute of Family Therapy for fifteen years. She is Founder and Director of the Center for the Awareness of Pattern family therapy training center and clinic in Maine and has published numerous articles and chapters.