1.25 CE Credits Available
The Legacy of Unresolved Loss: A Family Systems Approach
by Monica McGoldrick
In this realistic simulation of an 18-week course of therapy with the Rogers family, we see how the presenting problem—teenage daughter Michelle's rebellious behavior—masks unresolved loss across three generations of family members. 

Family therapy is well known for understanding the symptoms of the identified patient within the context of the larger family system. Monica McGoldrick has been a pioneering voice in extending the power of family therapy even further, helping us see how one family member's loss has ramifications for others—through an extended family network, and even across several generations.

In this realistic simulation of an18-week course of therapy with the Rogers family, we see how the presenting problem—teenage daughter Michelle's rebellious behavior—masks unresolved loss across three generations of family members. Despite the father's initial resistance to explore the death of the children's mother, McGoldrick links this loss with the family's current struggles, and assists them in the delayed grieving. She shows remarkable fluidity and mastery as she changes her stances based on the family's needs of the given moment, while her commentary provides the viewer with insight about her interventions.

What therapists are saying…

"Monica McGoldrick has a gift for making the complex look simple. She packs into eight sessions recreated in The Legacy of Family Loss issues of gender, ethnicity, re-marriage, teenage rebellion, step-parenting, and more. She does nothing fancy, nothing tricky, but at the end of this video, you've seen a master at work."

-- Olga Silverstein, M.S.W., Emeritus Faculty, The Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy
"The Legacy of Unresolved Loss has been my all time favorite video for my graduate students! It illustrates cultural issues, blended family issues, issues concerning death and dying, and it is a great resource for instructing students to develop genograms. By watching the course of therapy over time, students are able to see how therapeutic changes elicit changes in facial expressions, gestures, body posture, and vocal tones."

-- Lynn Banks, PsyD, Coordinator of MA in Counseling Webster University, Space Coast Branch
"I really loved this video...Monica is a pioneer in the field and watching her in action is wonderful. This reminds me of how much the past influences our present relationships, and that as a therapist I should be mindful of bringing it into my sessions."

-- Sandra Macias, PhD, Associate Professor/Gronowski Clinic Clinical Director, Palo Alto University, Calif.
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Quite simply, we love this video...and our customers do as well! It is perhaps the best video on family therapy ever produced.  McGoldrick is the therapist's therapist: wise, compassionate, warm, and yet down-to-earth and practical. You have the clear sense that no one is going to get anything past her.

By watching this video program, you'll learn how to:

• Use genograms to quickly assess patterns of unresolved loss
• Assign homework that helps families mourn their losses and resolve their grief
• Evaluate how diverse factors, including ethnic and gender issues, impact family's ability to cope with loss
• Achieve therapeutic goals by supplementing regular family sessions with an individual or couple sessions

Length of video: 1:26:00

English subtitles available

Individual ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-015-5

Individual ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-015-6

Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-018-X

Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-018-7

Monica McGoldrick, M.A., LCSW, Ph.D. (Honorary), the Director of the Multicultural Family Institute in Highland Park, New Jersey, is also Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She received an Honorary Doctorate from Smith for her many contributions to the field. Among many other awards, she has received the American Family Therapy Academy Award for Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice. She has written and spoken widely on a variety of topics including culture, class, gender, the family life cycle, loss, genograms, remarried families, and siblings. Three of her books have become best-selling classics of their publishers: The Changing Family Life Cycle, 3rd edition; Ethnicity and Family Therapy, 3rd edition; and Genograms: Assessment and Intervention, 3rd edition. See her website for more information on Monica McGoldrick and The Multicultural Family Institute.

See all Monica McGoldrick videos.


CE credits: 1.25

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe how to use genograms in order to quickly assess patterns of unresolved loss
  • Design homework assignments that help families mourn their losses and resolve their grief
  • Explain how diverse factors, including ethnic and gender issues, impact family's ability to cope with loss

Bibliography available upon request

This course is offered for ASWB ACE credit for social workers. See complete list of CE approvals here

© 1996

Course Reviewed January 2024

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