ABSTRACT
The authors designed a method for teaching clinicians about the treatment of families to overcome certain problems in the approach of their supervisees particularly towards family cases. The seminar coleaders initiated discussions by contributing relevant observations about their own families. The seminar, which was repeated yearly between 1977 and 1983, seemed to increase participants’ awareness of the power and subtlety of family influences on their lives. From the outset, participants responded comfortably and constructively to the reflections contributed by the seminar leaders about their own families. The seminar leaders' discussion of their own family experiences highlighted therapeutic approaches of which psychodynamically trained clinicians seem unaware. In the process of considering long-standing and typical family styles and characteristics, seminar participants tended to become somewhat philosophical in accepting painful aspects of family life. From the outset, participants responded comfortably and constructively to the reflections contributed by the seminar leaders about their own families.
