Salvador Minuchin & Wai-Yung Lee 
Mastering Family Therapy 
Journeys of Growth and Transformation

A master class in family therapy–now updated with an additional
ten years’ case experience

Few people have had as profound an impact on the theory and
practice of family therapy as Salvador Minuchin. As one commentator
put it, ‘Memories of his classic sessions have become the standard
against which therapists judge their own best work.’ This new
edition of the classic, Mastering Family Therapy, offers beginners
and experienced practitioners alike the opportunity to learn the
art and science of family therapy under this pioneering clinician
and teacher.

In elegant clinical interplays, Minuchin, his colleagues Wai-Yung
Lee and George Simon, and eight advanced students provide answers
to such critical questions as:

* What does it take to master the art of family therapy?

* How do I create an effective personal style?

* How can I become an instrument for growth for troubled
families?

This updated Second Edition features:

* An overview and critique of new models of treatment in the field,
especially evidence-based models of family treatment

* New case material highlighting the impact of societal context on
families

* Minuchin’s conceptualization of a four-step process of family
assessment, including how history can impact current family
functioning

A new and thoroughly revised version of the classic text, Mastering
Family Therapy, Second Edition is essential reading for all those
who practice, study, or teach family therapy.

Table of Content

Foreword vii
Braulio Montalvo

Preface ix
Salvador Minuchin

Acknowledgments xiii

Part I Families and Family Therapy

1 Family Therapy: A Theoretical Dichotomy 3

2 Family Particulars: All Families are Different 17

3 Family Universals: All Families are Alike 33

4 Family Therapies: Clinical Practice and Supervision 41

5 Contemporary Trends: Whatever Happened to Family Therapy? 61

6 The Therapeutic Encounter 75

Part II Stories of Supervision

7 Supervision of the Therapeutic Encounter 99

8 The Feminist and the Hierarchical Teacher 107
Margaret Ann Meskill

9 One Head, Many Hats 123
Hannah Levin

10 The Poet and the Drummer 137
Adam Price

11 ‘The Oedipal Son’ Revisited 159
Gil Tunnell

12 Into the Crucible 177
Israela Meyerstein

13 Men and Dependency: The Treatment of a Same-Sex Couple 195
David E. Greenan

14 The Shit-Painter 215
Wai-Yung Lee

15 Filling the Empty Vessel: Andy Schauer’s Story 243
Wai-Yung Lee

Epilogue 261
Salvador Minuchin

References 267

Index 271

About the author

SALVADOR MINUCHIN, PHD, is the author of the field’s
standard text, Families and Family Therapy, as well as numerous
other works, including, most recently, Working with Families of the
Poor (coauthored with Patricia Minuchin and Jorge Colapinto). He is
former director of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center, director
of Family Studies, Inc., and research professor of psychiatry at
New York University.

WAI-YUNG LEE, PHD, is the Director of the Hku Family
Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work
and Social Administration of The University of Hong Kong. She
remains on the faculty of The Minuchin Center and has studied and
worked with Salvador Minuchin since 1990.

GEORGE M. SIMON, PHD, is on the faculty of The Minuchin
Center. He maintains a private practice dedicated to couples and
family therapy in New York and teaches family therapy to the staff
at the Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He has studied
and worked with Salvador Minuchin since 1990.