ABSTRACT
T his chapter steps back and reviews body, survival, attach-ment, circuits, and transformation. As concepts that shape the content, process, and substance of family therapy work, these become a framework to understand the lives of our clients (what is happening) and the possibilities for transformation (what can happen). Without them, therapy can be a nonverbal obstacle course for clients who are already struggling to make sense of their experience. One way to integrate these ideas is to think:
Content = Body, Survival Process = Attachment, Belonging, Identity
Substance = Circuits, Transformation
First, these describe the stories our clients bring to us. Second, these become a template for family therapy that follows the lived experience of therapist and client. A case example from start to fi nish will illustrate this integration. Toward the end of this
chapter, Table 8.1 integrates these interventions and concepts into the main tasks of family therapy process. Th en, using the neurobiology of substance abuse, a proposal outlines how program developers can include brain-friendly components in a cost-eff ective manner.
