Family Therapy for Adolescent Eating Disorders: An Update

Family therapy has featured in the treatment of adolescent eating disorders for over 40 years, and the evolution of family therapy approaches, through a variety of theoretical lenses, has been significant. For instance, the recent dissemination of family-based treatment has resulted in a growing number of controlled empirical trials which continue to inform and augment treatment outcomes. In addition, a burgeoning number of alternate approaches to family therapy for eating disorders leave clinicians with more clinical considerations in practicing family therapy for eating disorders. In this paper, we aim to review the recent developments in family therapy for adolescent eating disorders, underscoring the impact on clinical practice and the likely implications for future research

Adolescent parents’ values: the role played by retrospective perceptions of the family-of-origin

Family-of-origin is an important system in individual’s lives, and its influence is extensive over the life cycle. The aim of this study was to investigate, in a sample of adolescents’ parents, whether their retrospective perceptions of parenting and relationship qualities within their families-of-origin during adolescence predicted their current collectivist and individualist values. Participants included 110 Portuguese adults with a mean age of 46.86 years old. The results of structural equation modeling supported that retrospective perceptions of parenting and relationship qualities in the family-of-origin predicted the adults’ collectivist values but not their individualist values. This study highlights the importance of retrospective perceptions of supporting and non-rejecting parenting for value acquisition. The results also suggest that values that preserve and protect family connections and collaborations are more likely to be socialized by families. Implications for practice and for the theories on parenting, values, family-of-origin influences and family intergenerational transmission are discussed.This work was supported by the Ph.D. grant of the first author (SFRH/BD/62182/2009), financed by Technology and Science Foundation (FCT)

Integrated Family Assessment and Intervention Model: A Collaborative Approach to Support Multi-Challenged Families

In this article we describe the Integrated Family Assessment and Intervention Model (IFAIM), a multi systemic, collaborative, strength-based, and family-focused in-home approach developed and implemented in Portugal. IFAIM is designed to assess and to support multi-challenged poor families, commonly known as multi-problem families, at psychosocial risk, with maltreated or neglected children. It integrates clinical, educational, social, community and forensic concerns, and practices under a systemic, narrative, and collaborative umbrella. IFAIM’s theoretical foundations and background, its main characteristics, stages of implementation, and research directions are described and a case illustration is presented