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A review of Metaphors of Family Systems Theory: Toward New Constructions by Paul C. Rosenblatt. New York: The Guilford Press, 1993. 239 pp. ISBN 089862-321-9. $26.95. Reviewed by Kathleen R. Gilbert.
Paul C. Rosenblatt is a professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. Along with Patricia A. Johnson, he wrote "Grief Following Childhood Loss of a Parent," which appeared in American Journal of Psychotherapy, 1981, XXXV, 419-425. With Carol Elde, he wrote "Shared Reminiscence about a Deceased Parent: Implications for Grief Education and Grief Counseling," which appeared in Family Relations, 1990, 39, 206-210.
Kathleen R. Gilbert is an associate professor in applied health science at Indiana University. With Laura Smart, she coauthored Coping with Infant or Fetal Loss: The Couple's Healing Process, which Brunner/Mazel published in 1992. Gilbert contributed the chapter "Family Loss and Grief" to the book Research and Theory in Family Science, published in 1994 by Brooks/Cole and coedited by Gilbert and Smart.
Metaphors of Family Systems Theory is a welcome addition to the growing literature on family systems, contributing an important, novel perspective on theories of family systems. Although this book was written by a scholar with a long history of research on loss and grief in families, its central focus is not grief. Rather, this is a well-thought-out exploration of metaphors used in family systems theory. In this volume, Rosenblatt identifies the standard metaphors of family systems theory, describes what they highlight and what they obscure, and suggests possible alternative metaphors. In addition, he examines the use of metaphor, in general, and suggests ways of generating other uses of metaphor that may help to broaden our understanding of families and how they operate.
Rosenblatt defines metaphor as "a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily applies to one object or idea is applied to another thus suggesting a likeness or analogy" (p. 12). Metaphors are used to communicate new ideas and to show linkages between already existing ideas. In our work with the bereaved, we often use, and hear our clients or study participants using, metaphors to communicate complex messages in a simple image (e.g., "His death left a huge gap in my life"; "Now that she's gone, I'm empty...