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Family therapy has become over the past decade a widely used form of treatment, whose results, as measured by outcome studies, are impressive. Most of the pioneers in family therapy were individuals with a psychoanalytic background (Ackerman, Bowen, Jackson, Lidz, and Wynne); however, the field currently suffers from a lack of any integrating theory. Some family therapists have suggested that this lack of an integrated theory is not a weakness but indeed a strength. They claim the field is still too young, that perhaps it is best to allow family therapy to blossom and grow unencumbered by the restrictions of theory. However, the question is, when will the field be old enough, or will it perpetually be too young? Family therapy began to flourish in the 1960s, a time in the United States characterized, in certain quarters, by strong antiestablishment sentiment. In many respects, this was similar to the Existentialist movement in Europe after World War II, where distrust of authority and distrust of theory went hand in hand. One can similarly suggest that this distrust of a theoretical foundation is experienced by some family therapists as a safeguard against premature closure and control by some vague authority. However, without some unified theory, particularly a theory that is connected with general psychiatric theory and practice, family therapy remains in an alienated position, a stepchild. It is the author's opinion that family therapy has grown up, and it is time that it takes its place in the family of psychotherapies, along with individual and group therapy.
Historically, the field of family therapy evolved in various locations under the leadership of a number of charismatic individuals who established their own therapeutic approaches. A wide spectrum of theory and practice in family therapy has resulted. These range from generally psychodynamic methods, which explore familial patterns transmitted through two or three generations (psychoanalytic, family systems