A narrative perspective on genograms: revisiting classical family therapy methods.

This article presents how genograms, a classic family therapy technique, can be used in the context of narrative therapy. Genograms create a unique opportunity to explore and re-tell family stories thus enabling their re-authoring. An important aspect of this process is that of tracking down family resources and wisdom.

[Mothers' perception of their closeness-caregiving and intrusiveness toward adult sons with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or drug addiction].

Aim: The aim of this study is to compare different aspects of closeness in the relation of mothers towards their adult sons suffering from schizophrenia or drug addiction. Werner and Green (1996), in analyzing the concept of"enmeshment", distinguish between two independent dimensions of closeness: 1) pathological--intrusiveness and 2) positive--closeness-caregiving. Intrusiveness refers to a high level of separation anxiety, projective mystification, emotional inter-reactivity and possessiveness.

Comparison of separation patterns between parents and offspring in psychiatric and nonclinical families.

This study examined the specific separation patterns of binding and expelling in families with young adults. 103 families were divided into three groups according to the ICD-10 diagnosis of offspring (18-35 years old): (1) schizophrenia (ns=32 mothers and 30 fathers), (2) personality disorders (ns=34 mothers and 30 fathers), (3) control, nonclinical group (ns=34 mothers and 32 fathers). The participants (mothers and fathers) independently completed the Relational Individuation Questionnaire designed for this study.

[Links between burden of care in parents of patients with schizophrenia or personality disorders and family interactions].

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore relationships between burden of care in parents of patients with schizophrenia or personality disorders and family interactions. Two main types of family interactions were distinguished according to Stierlin's theory: binding and expelling. Whereas binding leads to an increase in mutual dependency, expelling leads to a rise of mutual independence.

[Different approaches to the concept of family burden in schizophrenia].

This paper explores selected theoretical and experimental issues related to the notion of burden. The burden is a phenomenon which appears not only inside families with diagnosed schizophrenia but also in families of people presenting a different kind of psychic disorder or those being mentally handicapped. Using the term "family burden" is not usually followed by such operationalization of the notion, that would unable its investigation in the family system.