ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book attempts to integrate feminist issues and family therapy. It provides the practicing psychotherapist with a marvelously complete, annotated bibliography on feminist theory and frameworks, research on sex differences, and a summary of the research on women and mental health, and works which present a feminist critique of family therapy. The book argues that the concepts of enmeshment and fusion are based on a male model of transaction and so tend to lead to women's transactional styles being pathologized. It describes the field to develop concepts that positively describe women's capacity for attachments as well as men's capacity for separation. The book examines the difficulties that women face in disclosing their lesbianism to their mothers, and that lesbian mothers who "come out" confront with their daughters.
