La thérapie familiale : de la multiplicité à l'intégration

Family therapy emerged approximately 50 years ago in the United States. Neither young nor old, it has had time to forge an identity and a common belief system, along with a whole array of specific practices. This article retraces the first generation of family therapy and how it evolved over the late 20th century. The advantages and limits of the systemic viewpoint are reviewed, with a particular focus on the dangers of a radical use of the “systemic paradigm”. New theoretical and practical orientations are presented, more specifically those that contribute to recognizing family therapy as a valuable approach and to maintaining it within the field of psychotherapy and of mental health in general: empirical validation, integration and eclectism, and the broadening of the scope of therapy to include both the individual and the context beyond the family. The article emphasizes the unique contributions of medical family therapy and of research on the effectiveness of family therapy.