Systems of Family and Marital Psychotherapy. By A.C. Robin Skynner. New York:  Brunner/Mazel, 1976.  428 pp.

The aim of this book is to offer an “introductory teaching text” to practitioners in the field of family therapy. The first part of this text is devoted to a discussion of prevailing theories of marital and family treatment and to a review of individual, group and developmental dynamics. The second part of the book describes Skynner's and his wife's clinical work with families with many case illustrations and with especial reference to the treatment method of his choice—conjoint therapy. His stated approach is “group analytic” and he draws “heavily on the fruit of others” (intro. xii), mainly S.H. Foulkes and J.E. Bell, as well as on his personal group analysis.

Chapters six, seven, eight, and Appendix A, deal with the subjects of marriage, sexuality and family life, and summarize psychoanalytic theories on normal development and the family. They are illuminating and scholarly, and make valuable reading for students and practitioners. A description and discussion of modern psychoanalysis would have greatly enriched the usefulness of these chapters.

Skynner describes many treatment successes with families and family members, and reports remarkable symptom improvement and characterological change after only a few family-grouptreatment