Discusses the "hidden illness" of compulsive gambling. Describes course of the disease, theories of compulsive gambling, effects of compulsive gambling on gambler's wife and children, the organization Gam-Anon, and human service agencies' staff training and counseling intake procedures. Recommends self-help groups for all family members.…

Reviews and critiques 11 stepfamily self-help books for children and adolescents. Codes books on dimensions of appropriate audience, author background, issues, advice, and strengths. Rates general interest and quality of writing of books and assigns categories of recommendation. Discusses use of the books as an adjunct to therapy. (Author/NB)

Two trends are emerging in sexual counseling: use of self-help programs, and increasing reliance on group therapy to overcome specific sexual complaints. The weekend sexual enhancement workshop represents a synthesis of both trends, but efficacy regarding outcome has not been well documented. This article attempts such documentation. (Author)

Describes the Families in Transition Project that serves families experiencing separation, divorce, or remarriage. Focuses on one model of treatment--self-help support groups for youth. (JOW)

Describes a program, both rehabilitative and preventive, which provides individual, family, group, and community work for Holocaust survivors and their children. Six group experiences are offered: awareness, self-help, long-term therapy, mixed, multiple-family, and intergenerational. (Author/DB)

Examines the ways hypertension therapy-related stress is mediated by extended family-based self-help groups in rural, central Mississippi. Concludes that these self-help groups are the best means of controlling hypertension in this area because they are built upon an existing family structure and involve the entire extended family in adapting to…

Applies codependency group model to families of obsessive-compulsive people based on view that these families are normal, feeling people who are trying to cope with unremitting stress. Clinical vignettes illustrate how these families are similar to families of alcoholics in their management of emotions and in their dysfunctional behaviors. (JBJ)

Analysis of Al-Anon and Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA) organizational literature shows women's articulation of and responses to the problems of codependence from the 1950s to the 1980s. Progressive appropriation of feminist ideals, a critique of the family, and a disease-based model of family dysfunction characterize understanding of…

Examines the effects of a self-help program, Parents United, on families in which incest has occurred. Studied male incest offenders (N=56). Results indicated the program was successful in increasing participants' feelings of responsibility, and decreasing recidivism, but less successful in keeping the families together. (Author/JAC)

Describes the establishment and development of a support group for the parents of children infected and/or affected by HIV infection. The group is hospital-based, meeting monthly since April 1992, facilitated by professionals but with a self-help and peer support emphasis. Explains the planning, setting, and running of the group. Identifies…