ABSTRACT
It seems likely that people have been listening to each other's family problems and responding with commiseration and advice as long as there have been families. It seems equally likely that as soon as mankind became prosperous enough to develop specialized professions (the chief, the priest, the physician, the prostitute) many of these worthies included giving advice on family matters among their duties and prerogatives. Only in our own century and our own culture, however, has a profession developed whose sole purpose is to deal with problems between family members. Doubtless it was an inevitable development. The temper of the times was such as to encourage attempts to intervene in every social problem. From Prohibition to Social Security, from the Community Mental Health Movement to the Women's Rights Movement, we have been a nation boldly (if not always wisely) committed to finding cures for new and old social ills. The family received particular attention as the divorce and juvenile delinquency rates rose dramatically decade after decade. Indeed, as we shall see, marital therapy and family
therapy are only two of the many related movements which grew up in response to evident social needs. The social hygiene movement, the family life education movement, the child guidance and parent education movements, and an array of new psychotherapeutic modalities such as group, brief, and behavioral approaches all emerged within a narrow span of decades in response to the same compelling historic currents.
