Healthy Family Systems

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to review and integrate concepts of the healthy family system as developed in the theoretical literature on family therapy. From a review of the relevant writings of the major workers in the field, eight dimensions of healthy family functioning are isolated and discussed. These dimensions can be integrated as a mutually casual system, the "family health cycle." The different styles of leading family therapists can be seen as espousing different points of entry into the "family health cycle." The need for studying healthy families in family therapy training programs is discussed.