Brief strategic family therapy with Chinese Americans

This article describes a novel approach to working with Chinese American families. The author proposes that brief strategic family therapy possesses certain aspects that have special applicability to working with Chinese American families. A brief description of some of the major Chinese American cultural characteristics is presented. Eight aspects of brief strategic family therapy are proposed as consistent with Chinese American families. The concepts of working within a Chinese American family's frame of reference, reframing, and second-order change are especially effective principles in this work. A case example is presented to demonstrate how these concepts can be implemented with a Chinese American family.