Clinical Methods in Medical Family Therapy

Book Title: Clinical Methods in Medical Family Therapy

Book Author: Tai Mendenhall, Angela Lamson, Jennifer Hidgson, Macaran Baird, eds

Publication Information: New York, Springer Press, 2018, 617 pp., $99.99, hardcover

Clinical Methods in Medical Family Therapy is for the reader in search of a comprehensive, integrative behavioral and medical family therapy book. It represents the new wave of medical family therapy information and its integration into a large variety of medical specialties. The book expands upon pioneering works, including Family Therapy and Family Medicine,¹ Medical Family Therapy: A Biopsychososcial Approach to Families With Health Problems,² and Family Oriented Primary Care: A Manual for Medical Providers.^3,4

The book opens with a demonstration of the authors’ commitment to family systems roots and theoretical orientation, as they share their professional genogram, show their connections to one another, their individual professional journeys, and personal narratives. As national experts in the profession of medical family therapy, the authors have been instrumental in the expansion of medical family therapy into academic graduate programs, including doctoral-level degrees. They share a wealth of knowledge while incorporating the most up-to-date literature and research-informed practices throughout the book.

The 19 well-organized chapters are divided into four sections: Medical Family Therapy in Primary Care; Secondary Care; Tertiary Care; Unique Care Environments and Populations. Example chapters include Medical Family Therapy in Disaster Preparedness and Employee Assistance Programs, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Intensive Care, Oncology, Obstetrics and Gynecology Care, Palliative and Hospice Care, and Endocrinology. Each chapter describes the specific medical specialty or setting and how medical family therapists and behavioral health specialists are incorporated. Each provides a clinical vignette, a table describing levels of integration of a medical family therapist, individual approaches, community approaches, reflection questions, clinical assessment instruments, and professional organization resources with internet links. Also included is a glossary of terms specifically related to the medical specialty or department. Availability of these details and resources will assist anyone wanting to gain knowledge or work as a clinician in any of the mentioned medical specialties. The clinical vignettes are valuable, demonstrating how a medical family therapist in the office setting can assist patients with psychological, social, spiritual, and family concerns. They enable the biopsychosocial spiritual approach to come to life, demonstrating how psychosocial concerns impact medical concerns and how medical family therapists can untangle the patients’ complex needs, offering research-informed psychological or family systems-based interventions.

One clinical vignette describes a 12 year-old seen at the pediatric endocrinologist for high BMI and signs of insulin resistance. After a PHQ-9A is administered, her high depression score is noted. The therapist meets with her, leading to identification of issues related to the child missing her mother and being in the care of her grandmother. The therapist helps the child to work on self-efficacy and self-care as well as the family strengths and challenges in meeting necessary medication and behavioral health care goals. Taking a family system approach helps to recognize connections to the symptoms and potential solutions.

This comprehensive book benefits new and seasoned medical and mental health professionals. It will be excellent for novice clinicians wanting to learn how family systems work is incorporated into a medical setting, or for proficient systems thinkers entering the world of medicine. The book provides excellent descriptions of unfamiliar terms to the language and roles unique to each medical specialty. Physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel could gain understanding of a fully-integrated behavioral health model. It also provides specific terms and roles of professionals needed in each specialty area.

The tables describe the five levels of medical family therapy integration, discerning specific goals and tasks required to advance knowledge and skills in each specialty. Level one may have a cursory role while level five includes full integration into the medical department. An individual who reaches level five is fully integrated with a sophisticated skill set that is useful to further the profession with policies and research.

One topic that may have enhanced the book further is a suggested guide for administrators regarding workforce development, such as financial aspects involved in hiring and supporting a medical family therapist into specialty health care teams. Clearly, the benefits of behavioral health care are helpful to those receiving care and the medical staff. However, the book concludes with descriptions of family therapists successfully practicing in various medical specialties throughout the country.

This book is an excellent resource for medical and mental health training. It is informed by research, includes clinical vignettes, and clear descriptions of medical terminology and professional roles; this demonstrates a unique perspective. It should be considered a required text for all medical family therapy programs, behavioral health courses, and medical school.