Family intervention in a treatment program for the hospitalized adolescent

Abstract

There is increasing emphasis upon the role and importance of the family system in the treatment of the hospitalized adolescent. Gralnick (1965) and Rinsley (1965) approached the psychiatric treatment of adolescents from the perspective of intrapsychic conflict and disturbed interpersonal relations. With the development of various family techniques in psychotherapy and the study of family dynamics and psychopathology by a number of different individuals and groups in recent years, a shift toward family orientation in treatment of the adolescent seems to be occurring. Muir and Lewis (1974) described their treatment program for hospitalized adolescents in which family process and structure are used in the assessment and treatment of individual adolescents. Orvin (1974) described an adolescent treatment program at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of the Medical University of South Carolina. In this program the families were active participants in the therapy of their hospitalized children.