Therapy with Single Parents: A Social Constructionist Approach

by Joan D Atwood, Frank Genovese

Overview

Provide effective counseling to members of single-parent families

With more than half of all first marriages ending in divorce, it’s time to re-think the notion that “divorce” means “failure.” Therapy with Single Parents focuses on the strengths of the single-parent family rather than its weaknesses, stressing the need to look at the socially constructed norms, values, and definitions associated with marriage and family in order to provide effective counseling. This unique book examines experiences that are common to single parents and presents interventive strategies for treating single-parent family issues, drawing on clinical case studies to provide technical knowledge in everyday language.

Current research shows that single parents account for 27 percent of family households that include children under 18 and that the number of single mothers in the United States more than tripled between 1970 and 2000. Therapy with Single Parents challenges outdated notions that the single-parent family is somehow deficient and associated with adjustment problems in children. It doesn’t ignore the anger, pain, sadness, and guilt experienced by many members of single parent families but offers therapeutic considerations from a more balanced approach. The book examines the social, psychological, and sexual experiences of newly single parents and addresses the ups and downs they’ll face in dealing with schools, the workplace, and social services.

Therapy with Single Parents examines:

• social and psychological differences between divorce and widowhood
  
• cognitive-behavioral principles of single-parent families
  
• what children can learn from divorce
  
• dealing with the ghosts of past relationships
  
• relationship rules
  
• dealing with adult children and extended families
  
• the effect of change in divorcing families
  
• the feminization of poverty
  
• the therapeutic value of social networks

Therapy with Single Parents is an invaluable resource for psychologists, professional counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists. The book presents a thorough, in-depth examination of the single-parent family system as a viable, healthy family form.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317720973
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/25/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	342
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Joan D Atwood, Frank Genovese

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
  
• Introduction
  
• PART I: SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIENCES OF THE SINGLE AGAIN
  
• Chapter 1. Single Again Through Divorce
  
• Historical Divorce Rates
  
• Interpreting Divorce Rates
  
• Social Definitions and Reactions to Divorce
  
• Psychological Reactions to Divorce
  
• Chapter 2. Single Again Through Widowhood
  
• Psychological Differences Between Divorce and Widowhood
  
• U.S. Widowhood Rates
  
• Social Aspects of Widowhood
  
• Psychological Aspects of Widowhood
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• Chapter 3. Single-Parent Family Issues
  
• General Concern Among Single-Parent Families
  
• Cognitive-Behavioral Principles
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• Summary
  
• Chapter 4. Resiliency and Competence in Children Experiencing Divorce
  
• The Competent Divorce
  
• Factors Associated with the Competent Divorce
  
• What Children Can Learn from Divorce
  
• Summary
  
• Chapter 5. Redefining Relationships
  
• The Ghost versus Reality: Stress Reductions
  
• The Ghost versus Reality: Relationship Issues
  
• Relationship Rules
  
• Perpetual Divorce and Ambiguous Loss
  
• Loss and the Family
  
• Role of the Professional Therapist
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• PART II: SEXUAL EXPERIENCES OF THOSE WHO ARE SINGLE AGAIN
  
• Chapter 6. Relational and Sexual Considerations After Divorce
  
• Issues in Sexuality
  
• Sexually Single Again
  
• Sexual Outlets
  
• Incidence of Sexual Intercourse
  
• Frequency of Sexual Intercourse
  
• Number of Partners
  
• Initiating Sex
  
• Quality of Sex
  
• Sex and Single Parents
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• Chapter 7. Relational and Sexual Considerations After Widowhood
  
• Sexual Considerations of Widowhood
  
• HIV/AIDS
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• Summary
  
• PART III: SINGLE AGAIN AND DEALING WITH THE LARGER SYSTEMS
  
• Chapter 8. Interacting with School Personnel
  
• The Pathology Assumption
  
• Academic Resilience
  
• Challenging “Reality”
  
• The School
  
• Psychoeducational Models
  
• Self-Fulfilling Prophesies
  
• Failure Analysis
  
• The Family
  
• The School and the Family
  
• Role of the Professional Therapist
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• Chapter 9. Single Parents, Work, and Welfare
  
• The Feminization of Poverty
  
• Poverty and Psychological Distress
  
• Therapeutic Value of Support Networks
  
• Role of the Professional Therapist
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• PART IV: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION THERAPY WITH THE SINGLE-PARENT FAMILY
  
• Chapter 10. The Single-Parent Family and Social Constructions
  
• Social Constructionist Theory
  
• Social Constructionist Therapy
  
• Theoretical Concepts
  
• Therapy Strategies
  
• Summary
  
• Chapter 11. Conclusions
  
• Reexamining the Pathology Assumption
  
• The Myth of Pathology
  
• Interpersonal and Systemic Circularity
  
• Summary
  
• Bibliography
  
• Annotated Bibliography and Internet Resources
  
• Index
  
• Reference Notes Included
  

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Gary B Kaniuk, PsyD (Cermak Health Services)
Description: This book discusses therapy with single parents from a social constructionist point of view. It combines understanding family meanings with a solution-focused approach, as opposed to a pathology orientation.
Purpose: According to the authors, "this book is directed toward helping those therapists who work with white, middle-class, divorced, and widowed clients — those individuals who would be most likely to seek the services of mental health therapists in private practice. This is where our expertise lies, and it is here that we feel we can make the most appropriate contribution. In no way do we mean to minimize the importance of the other groups; we have simply decided to focus on particular segments of the single-parent population, the divorced and the widowed, in order to provide an in-depth analysis of the single-parent situation rather than a superficial gleaning of all groups fitting into the single-parent category," The book definitely meets the authors' objectives.
Audience: Therapists are the target audience. Dr. Atwood is the director of the graduate programs in marriage and family therapy at Hofstra University and has published numerous books and articles in this field. Dr. Genovese is an adjunct assistant professor of health professions and family studies, also at Hofstra, and has published in the area of bereavement and adolescence.
Features: The book's four parts cover social and psychological experiences of the single again, sexual experiences of those who are single again, single again and dealing with the larger systems, social construction therapy with the single-parent family. Many of the chapters contain brief case examples which help to highlight the concepts. The book is easy to read and delivers on the stated purpose. Chapters 10 and 11 nicely describe the social constructionist approach, although I wondered why this discussion came so late in the book. Chapter 11, "Conclusions," is a wonderful chapter that covers the pathological approach and how it differs from a solution focused model, which the book espouses. An annotated bibliography and a list of Internet resources, follows a traditional bibliography at the end of the book. The only drawback of the book is that it only discusses middle class, European-Americans.
Assessment: This is an excellent volume because it really covers the ground you expect. It discusses therapy with single parents through the lens of social construction theory. The brief clinical cases help to explain the material. The book is practical and easy to read. Most of the chapters have therapy strategies, reaching out to the target audience. If you are working with single parents (and who isn't), this is the book to have. Unfortunately, the authors only focus on European-American single parents, which is a drawback.

Doody's Review Service

"Therapy with Single Parents: A Social Constructionist Approach is an indispensable resource for professional counselors working with single-parent families, school guidance counselors, and educators who teach in the areas of Social Studies, Sociology, Psychology, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, and Education. Authored by professionals with backgrounds in practice and teaching, this book will have wide appeal. While the authors by no means ignore the emotional and financial problems often experienced by members of single-parent families, they present a more balanced view - based on recent, sound methodological research - of the single-parent family as "a viable, healthy family form." This is a welcome and revolutionary claim that challenges entrenched social stereotypes."

- Tatjana Chorney in Journal of Association for Research on Mothering

"This book provides practical information, using common language for clinicians and others who work with single parents/systems…This book strives to depict single parenthood as a viable family structure instead of a deficit position…I would recommend this book to therapists working with single parents…one of the first of its kind to address the unique experiences of single parents and should be applauded."

– Joseph L. Smith, Ph.D., Smith College Studies in Social Work

From the Publisher