Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:447-450
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Siblings as therapists: a behavioral approach
NB Miller and DP Cantwell
Although many family therapy programs have taught behavior modification
techniques to parents, few have involved siblings as therapeutic agents in
the treatment of retarded, emotionally disturbed, or physically handicapped
children. The authors describe their experiences with two families in which
siblings were taught to use simple procedures to encourage desired
behaviors in a disturbed brother or sister. They conclude that further
investigation is needed to refine sibling training techniques and suggest
that involvement in treatment programs may have beneficial influences on
the normal siblings of disturbed children.
