Exposes destructive patterns of communication within family cultures and provides strategies for promoting more open dialogue among family members. * Equips family therapists to help clients see the barriers they place in the way of healthy communication, and adopt more constructive alternatives * Provides activities designed to spark open dialogue between therapist and clients, strengthening the therapeutic relationship and facilitating family interaction * Includes communication strategies for reversing disengagement, defusing power struggles, overcoming sibling rivalry, disentangling marital problems and more * Offers a new understanding of family dynamics, an area in which many family therapists want to improve their skills but have struggled to find a text to guide them in doing so