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The Family Crucible

By: Augustus Y. Napier PhD, Carl A. Whitaker MD - contributor
Narrated by: Derek Shoales
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Publisher's summary

"If you have a troubled marriage, a troubled child, a troubled self, if you're in therapy or think that there's no help for your predicament, The Family Crucible will give you insights...that are remarkably fresh and helpful." (New York Times Book Review)

The classic groundbreaking book on family therapy by acclaimed experts Augustus Y. Napier, PhD, and Carl Whitaker, MD.

This extraordinary book presents scenarios of one family's therapy experience and explains what underlies each encounter. You will discover the general patterns that are common to all families - stress, polarization and escalation, scapegoating, triangulation, blaming, and the diffusion of identity - and you will gain a vivid understanding of the intriguing field of family therapy.

©1978 Augustus Y. Napier and Carl A. Whitaker (P)2021 Tantor
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What listeners say about The Family Crucible

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Essential!

This audio version was much easier to digest than reading the book! Highly recommended

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great audible book

I really enjoy the narrator and their ability to embrace each individual speaking in the book. Hearing this book made the content very easy to digest. Very informative on family therapy and practices as the entire book is essentially a case study (open to termination of a family). I imagine I will listen to this book again someday.

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Very helpful (and responding to another review)

Good examples and theory together. If only more of us could receive this kind of therapy. I wish the concepts could be taught in school rather than algebra; it is just as complicated and would help us all more.
I read a review that mentioned the author’s description of the teenage girl’s appearance; I agreed it sounded weird. However, at least in this edition that I listened to, the words were not quite the same and it made some sense in context and sounded more honest than weird, although there might be a better way to write about it.

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Family therapy

Great book for any new therapist who wants to work with families Highly recommend

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Thought Provoking

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to stop generational patterns in their families that cause problems. I found many of my memories from childhood made much more sense and my marriage to my husband has improved by just reading this book!

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Exactly what I was looking for

This book does an excellent job of anecdotally demonstrating the complexity of family therapy and provides ample processing throughout. I love how Gus shares some of the gray areas of his interventions (some would call “mistakes”). Any family therapist who listens to this book will find it highly relatable and informative. Thank you for writing it.

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Critical read for all parents

All parents should listen to this. When my kids are old enough, I plan to have them listen to it too.

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MFT bible

If you are a marriage and family student or conditioner, this is a must read. this is the best work demonstrating the mindset of family systems and how change works. Although it’s hard to really pinpoint the principles and tenants of experiential therapy that is exactly the point the narrative model with this family creates a Greek case of how to be a family therapist. as a marriage therapist myself good luck it’s a hard ride, but it’s a good ride.

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Awful

Sexist garbage with pedo undertones. I was forced to listen to this shit book for school.

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