Thomas Todd

The aim of this investigation was to examine the context of recurrent crying episodes during family therapy sessions. We tested the relative contribution of social versus individual intrapsychic variables within a 10-session, videotaped, structural family therapy. Segments of therapy before crying episodes when compared with control (non-crying) se...

This paper examines the relationships between individual and familial functioning among adult cocaine abusers, using the FACES III scales to determine family functioning, and the Beck Depression Inventory, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90, and SCID to determine individual functioning. The correlations between family cohesion and the three different...

The authors studied the efficacy of once-weekly psychotherapy, family therapy, or group therapy led by paraprofessionals among patients with cocaine use disorders. Of subjects who sought outpatient treatment, 168 consented to participate in the study and were each randomly assigned to one of the three forms of therapy; 122 patients were interviewed...

This article reviews the emergence of the original family therapy model for treating substance abuse developed by Duncan Stanton and Thomas C. Todd, its original successes, and the subsequent awareness of some shortcomings as it was used in a variety of settings in the United States and other countries. Also outlined are newer approaches that have...

A number of different indicators of psychopathology were assessed in this study of 76 cocaine and crack abusers who entered outpatient treatment in New York City between June and December 1987. The majority (75%) had used cocaine for 4 years or more, and the majority (62%) spent over one thousand dollars a month on cocaine in the 6 months before en...

Todd and Greenberg use a co-supervisory model with predoctoral psychology family therapy interns, but with Todd using a structural/strategic model and Greenberg a symbolic-experiential model. They focus on the isomorph of cotherapist trainees replaying family problems and the traineers replaying trainee problems. Their model involves using the trai...

This chapter has been written with both clinicians and reseachers in mind. Regarding the former, we believe that it is important for the practicing clinician or clinical student to know what conclusions safely can be drawn from existing research on marital and family therapy and to know which areas are still speculative as far as research evidence...

Used payment of family members for attendance at family sessions to improve retention and ensure their treatment experience. 64 families who had a son (mean age 25.3 yrs) enrolled in a methadone program were assigned to 1 of 3 treatment conditions: (1) paid family therapy (PFT), (2) paid family movie treatment (MOV), and (3) unpaid family therapy (...

Many families, when presented with the option of family therapy, are less than eager to participate. This paper comprises the second and third parts of a series on engaging “resistant” families. ¹ Part II presents 21 principles and a number of techniques and strategies that have been developed for successfuly recruiting such families. These techniq...

This paper presents a consistently paradoxical approach to family therapy, using paradoxical interventions during the session and written paradoxical prescriptions to be followed between sessions. This strategic team approach is appropriate for highly resistant cases, which often have lengthy treatment histories. Comparisons are made to other strat...

Although the Wells and Dezen review made many valuable points about family therapy outcome research, their handling of the various included studies appeared uneven. To test this impression, a content analysis was performed on the "favorableness" or "positiveness" of the statements made by Wells and Dezen about the studies they reviewed. The degree...

Our study of predictability of outcomes of psychotherapy used predictions of two kinds: (1) direct predictions by patients, therapists, and clinical observers; and (2) predictive measures derived from the same sources. Seventy-three nonpsychotic patients were treated in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy (mean, 44 sessions). Two thirds of th...

The chronic relapsing nature of heroin addiction can be explained from a family systems viewpoint. The addiction cycle is part of a family pattern involving a complex homeostatic system of interlocking feedback mechanisms. These serve to maintain the addiction and consequently the overall family stability. Drug-taking usually starts at adolescence....

Linear and open systems (multiple feedback) models of psychosomatic illness in children are contrasted in terms of their implications for cause and treatment. An open systems family model is presented that describes three necessary (but not independently sufficient) conditions for the development and maintenance of severe psychosomatic problems in...

This is the first report in the literature of an application of the rigorous symptom-context method for determining the nature of the psychological antecedents of petit mal EEG paroxysmal activity. The activity is defined by the presence of a 3 cycle/second spike and wave on the EEG which is recorded concurrently while the patient is speaking his t...

THE MORE one has of what is valued in a society, the easier it should be to adapt to its demands and challenges and to cope with physical and psychological misfortunesthe “slings and arrows” that man is heir to. The possession of many socially desirable physical and psychological assets suggests that the person has in the past been able to perform...

We have developed a set of methods for discerning the context in which a patient's neurotic or psychosomatic symptoms appear and subside, especially during psychotherapy sessions. The essence of these methods (Luborsky & Auerbach, 1969) is to find points during interviews when a symptom appears and then to examine the context of the patient's thoug...