Book reviews

The book “Family Therapy: Concepts, Process and Practice” (Persian edition)

Author: Dr Alan Carr

Translators: Dr Bahman Bahmani and Nayyereh Ahmadi

Subject: psychotherapy and counselling — family therapy, couples therapy

Arjmand Publications

Published: 2019

About the book

In this book you will find a critical appraisal of the major schools of family therapy, an integrative practice model for couples and family therapy, and examples of how to use the model with a range of common problems in children and adults. It also summarises research on the effectiveness of family therapy and how those findings apply in evidence-based practice, and the second part of the book presents the three-column model for formulating problems — and for formulating exceptions (times when the problem does not occur) — with clinical examples.

“Rarely does one find a book in family therapy so innovative and different, reviewing the field’s core models and approaches, in theory and practice, so clearly and coherently. What sets this book apart, and makes it succeed, is that Professor Alan Carr does not merely review — he adds. With the formulation model he offers, he in fact brings together different perspectives from theory, science and practice into a method that gives the reader a ‘road map’ for therapy. This book is a valuable treasure that opens very fresh perspectives on therapy and on training therapists.”

Professor Thomas L. Sexton
Professor and Director of Family and Adolescent Studies
Indiana University

Translator’s preface

When, about ten years ago, I first came across the English text of Alan Carr’s Family Therapy: Concepts, Process and Practice and used it as preparatory reading for teaching theories of family counselling and family therapy in clinical psychology and counselling departments, I never imagined I would translate it for students. But students’ enthusiasm for the chapters I gradually translated and gave them, depending on each course, soon led me to think of translating the whole book. One of my reasons for choosing it then was its rare — if not unique — comprehensiveness. Chapter one, for example, contains a very concise yet equally complete discussion of the family as a system and of the individual life cycle within the family, which no other text available at the time contained — and none does even now.

Dr Bahman Bahmani

Counsellor and psychotherapist

Associate professor, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences

To buy the book (Persian edition), visit:

Buy the book

Title: Children and Parents Living with MS (in Persian)

Authors: Dr Bahman Bahmani and Dr Shadi Nowruzali

Publisher: Danjeh

Many people with chronic and hard-to-treat illnesses need ongoing care. Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disabling disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. Caring for someone with MS and dealing with their problems can in many situations be hard and exhausting. This book draws on the experiences of a number of adolescents and young adults whose parents have had the disease, and looks at the problems and issues they may face after a parent falls ill.
The book has four chapters:

– Chapter one gives a brief introduction to the disease.

– Chapter two discusses how the illness affects children’s lives.

– Chapter three offers suggestions for managing the problems better.

– Chapter four is a word to parents living with MS.

We hope that reading it can be a step, however small, towards helping people adjust to the consequences of a parent’s MS.

Extracts from the book:

Children are far less fragile than you think, and far more able than we imagine to accept painful realities.

Parents often try to protect children from psychological harm by hiding painful matters from them. At first this may seem to bring the family peace, but in the long run it can hurt them. Honest, open communication between family members is valuable and important, and builds trust over time.

… It was a three-day public holiday and our secondary-school exams were over. We had planned to go away for the three days. The night before, we put our luggage in the car, and late that night my father went to fill up the tank so we wouldn’t be held up the next day. We got up early to set off after morning prayers and beat the traffic — and found that my father had lost his balance and couldn’t walk. He had had MS for five years, and every so often his symptoms flared up, but for about six months he had been well, with no problems. The trip was cancelled and we spent the three days at home…

We had felt intense anxiety and fear before, when we first heard that my father had MS. But this time — my father’s anxious silence, my mother’s eyes full of fear, and each of us children trying artificially to make things look normal — I will never forget. It seemed we all wanted to make things better.