Essential Assessment Skills for Couple and Family Therapists (The Guilford Family Therapy Series) - Hardcover

Lee Williams, PhD, LMFT, is Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at the University of San Diego and does couple therapy with veterans at the VA San Diego Medical Center.

Todd M. Edwards, PhD, LMFT, is Associate Professor and Director of the Marital and Family Therapy Program at the University of San Diego and Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

JoEllen Patterson, PhD, LMFT, is Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at the University of San Diego and Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.

Larry Chamow, PhD, LMFT, is Clinical Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at the University of San Diego and is in full-time private practice at the Pacific Family Institute in Carlsbad, California.

"In the ever-increasing literature of couple and family therapy, there continues to be a dearth of attention paid to important everyday issues, relevant perspectives, and usable methods of clinical assessment. This book is the best remedy thus far for this state of affairs. Like the authors' related book Essential Skills in Family Therapy, it is highly accessible, readable, and practical. Wisely integrative, it pays well-warranted attention to 'individual' issues without ever losing its systemic-relational core, and will be an especially welcome guide for neophyte family therapists."--Alan S. Gurman, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Family Therapy Training, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

"Masterfully conceived and brilliantly presented, this book focuses on the necessary and inevitable interdependence of assessment and intervention. The relevance and range of issues and populations covered is impressive. The authors succeed in offering a practical, straightforward reference tool for all couple and family therapists. Too often, clinical books fail to represent the foundational nature of assessment. This book not only understands this relationship, it also delivers, demonstrating how change strategies and methods flow logically and directly from comprehensive systemic assessment. This is a wonderful 'how-to' volume on a fundamental and timeless topic. It is a great companion to the authors' Essential Skills in Family Therapy."--Howard A. Liddle, EdD, ABPP, Professor and Director, Center for Treatment Research on Adolescent Drug Abuse, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

"As the title indicates, this comprehensive book is essential reading for all marital and family therapists."--Daniel Le Grange, PhD, Benioff UCSF Professor in Children's Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco; Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago