A classification of the field of family therapy: A review of prior attempts and a new paradigmatic model

Abstract

This article presents a review of the early attempts to classify the field of family therapy, including Haley's (1962) caricatures, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry's (1970) classification, Beels and Ferber's (1969) antitheoretical model, and others. A recent paradigmatic scheme (Ritterman, 1977) based on the pretheoretical assumptions of the family theorists is examined in detail, extended to encompass more of the field and critiqued from the perspectives of its overall validity and utility. Finally, a new paradigmatic model based on the formal aspects of the family therapy theories is presented.