“If I Don't Get Simple, I Cry”

Abstract

Poor families have taught us special lessons that are applicable to all families. They have instructed us about the problems, within families, of developing relationships adequate to the tasks of family life. One consequence is that therapists are attending more to the evolution of the structure of family relationships, particularly, the phenomenon of underorganization. Poor families have also provided insight into the dynamic relationship between families and their social context. As a result, a therapeutic perspective is emerging that focuses on the influence of the community on the individual and the family, a perspective that may be called an eco-structural approach to therapy.