Treating the Tough Adolescent: A Family-Based, Step-by-Step Guide

SCOTT SELLS HAS ACCOMPLISHED WHAT FEW authors of books or journal articles do - provide both what a practitioner and researcher need to know in order to evaluate a clinical intervention. Many journal articles are geared toward the researcher and provide enough detail about methodology so that a researcher could evaluate the validity and reliability of an intervention but not enough information for the practitioner to be able to duplicate and/or implement the intervention described. On the other hand, often books provide enough detail for the practitioner to implement an intervention but do little to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention in a systemic way that would satisfy a researcher. Sells has managed to adequately address both of these demanding audiences in this one book.

In Treating the Tough Adolescent, Sells describes a method of family therapy that incorporates behavior modification training for parents. The focus of the training is to facilitate a process through which parents learn the skills necessary to regain control of their family and adolescent. Sells' model is divided into fifteen steps. With each step, the author discusses the major task that has to be accomplished, suggests behaviors for the therapist, and even provides discussions of barriers or sabotage techniques family members might exhibit.

A basic assumption underlying Sells' structural model of family intervention is that parents need to return to a position of authority in the family. Another assumption is that adolescents' problems must be defined as something that can be solved by the parents. The text is very detailed in describing the steps parents would need to take to regain control of their child's behavior, and detail would be helpful for beginning practitioners and struggling parents. In addition, Sells describes his process-outcome research method of task analysis in significant detail that the researcher could replicate.

The book contains two major weaknesses. First, Sells mentions frequently that if other family problems, like physical or sexual abuse, substance abuse, or material difficulties, etc., are going on in the family, his model may need to be halted while the therapist works with the parent(s). No strategies are provided to deal with these other issues that may be a significant part of the family dynamics. Given the frequency with which a therapist who works with "tough adolescents" and their families will encounter these other family issues, the lack of specific recommendations for dealing with them presents a weakness in the book. The second weakness is Sells' recommendation that this method be used with families who have teenagers in trouble and the assumption that all teenage problems should be solved by parents. Teenagers are at a stage of development where their drive is to emancipate. It may be unrealistic to expect parents to try and regain control of them at this stage of development. This model asked a lot of the parents, and the steps may be more appropriate for families with younger children. Even with this caution, if parents are really motivated to change their behavior, Sells' research indicates his method is effective. For that reason, this book is a valuable asset to a therapist library. But, one would want to be realistic about the number of families that would actually follow through with the techniques as suggested.

Judith Stafford

Social Work Program Coordinator

Morehead State University

Morehead, KY 40351

Copyright Manticore Publishers Sep/Oct 1999
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