ABSTRACT
Postmodern systemic therapists tend to be multi-modal practitioners, working in many different settings, both public and private. In the public domain, systemic practitioners tend to be part of multidisciplinary teams, and their interventions need to be part of the overall framework and approach of the team. The multi-contextual approach opens up new perspectives and provides choices for the clinician as well as for clients. McFarlane and his group developed a manualized version of a well-structured multi-family therapy programme and argued that families found it helpful to see some of their interaction and communication patterns in others. A major aim of multiple family group work is to reduce the levels of Expressed Emotion (EE) in line with the well documented research findings of significantly reduced relapse rates if EE in key relatives is lowered. The principles and practices of intensive multiple family work have subsequently been adapted to the work with other patient and problem groups.
