Reviews
and the power of insurance companies. The dictates of many in-
surance companies nearly eliminate treatment options other than
weight and nutritional stabilization. Although one can argue con-
vincingly that the long-term treatment of years ago fed anorexia,
it did support treatment goals that addressed many underlying is-
sues. Also receiving no attention in this treatise are the advances
in the role of genetics and brain functioning in understanding
anorexia, or recent findings about other predisposing, precipi-
tating, and perpetuating factors, many of which are also gender
bound. Knowledge of these domains is crucial for effective treat-
ment.
As a feminist psychologist specializing in the study and treat-
ment of those with eating disorders, I am left with unanswered
questions. First, if the program under scrutiny recognized the so-
ciocultural antecedents of anorexia, would Gremillion’s criticisms
stand? Would she detect the same interactions if the staff mem-
bers were specialized in the psychology of women, such as at the
Renfrew Center in Philadelphia? Second, would staff interactions
and perceptions be more positive if women headed the treatment
program? Gremillion argues that women staff can be part of the
problem due to their gendered sense of themselves. The dynam-
ics of any organization, however, are influenced by the gender of
the “authority” structure, and an authority structure with femi-
nist underpinnings has the potential to have a positive impact on
treatment programs.
Programs with a feminist philosophy give us hope for the treat-
ment of those with eating disorders and also point to refinements
that could address the major pitfalls of the Walsh program. Gremil-
lion endorses narrative therapy as a promising window of oppor-
tunity for combating the deficiencies she identified, but time will
be necessary to assess its effectiveness.
In summary, Gremillion’s goal to “make explicit the potentially
transformative tensions and contradictions that already exist on the
unit” (p. 24) is accomplished with the help of her sharp observa-
tional and interviewing skills. She has synthesized the knowledge
that she gained into a discourse that challenges many treatment
norms. Psychological practitioners, researchers, and teachers may
find the terminology of an anthropologist to be somewhat foreign,
but her book surely will engage its readers and initiate spirited
discussions.
Kathy Hotelling is the Director of the Counseling and Student Develop-
ment Center and Adjunct Associate Professor in Education at Northern
Illinois University and a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice.
She has specialized for 25 years in the prevention, education, and treat-
ment of eating disorders, and is a frequent consultant to school districts
and colleges establishing programs on eating disorders.
THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
OF FEMINIST THERAPY
Feminist Theories and Feminist Psychotherapies: Origins,
Themes, and Diversity (2nd ed.), CAROLYN ZERBE
ENNS. Binghamton, NY: Haworth, 2004. 391 pp.,
$39.95 (paperback), ISBN: 0-7890-1808-X.
Carolyn Z. Enns has revised and updated her earlier 1997 edition
of Feminist Theories and Feminist Psychotherapies. Written in an
easily readable and accessible style, this book will be especially
223
useful for students and novices interested in learning about femi-
nist theory and practice as well as providing a broad overview for
those of us who have lived and practiced this approach for the past
three decades.
Enns provides in-depth coverage of the major theoretical per-
spectives as well as their translations into feminist therapy. This
material is well organized with separate chapters focusing on rad-
ical, liberal, cultural, and women of color feminisms. Many of the
chapters and subheadings begin with a series of relevant questions
that allow the reader to situate her/himself in relation to the ma-
terial that follows. This is an important contribution to making the
book user friendly and interactive.
In addition, material on global, postmodern, third wave, and
lesbian/queer feminisms update this edition. These are crucial
aspects of current feminist theory and practice covered by the
book, making it useful not only to those seeking an historical or
abstract document but also to contemporary students as well.
Yet this book remains an important historical document, com-
piling information on the earliest years of feminist psychothera-
pies, material too easily discarded or made invisible by time and
indifference. Our own feminist principles demand careful con-
sideration of context and diversity and Enns is up to the task.
She chronicles the history and geography of the feminist devel-
opment of psychotherapy, beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, and
contextualizes these innovations within the first and second waves
of feminism in the United States. She then reaches all the way
through the present practices to the future possibilities. This is
undoubtedly the most comprehensive contribution to the chroni-
cling of a field now 35 years old. Much of the current literature is
far from comprehensive and does not provide the depth and com-
plexity of the history and thought of feminist theory and practice.
This is the only book I know that takes on and accomplishes this
goal reasonably well.
Needless to say, Enns had to be selective in what she included,
and she had to exclude some important work. Now that I have
lived the history of the second half of the twentieth century, I
long for our own history to contain the comprehensive theory and
details of practice, as well as the back story, not only the disputes
and differences, the alliances and influences, but the personal
relationships that inform the theories. Yet, as an author, Enns
need not and could not fulfill my every fantasy, although I would
have liked her to have made her decision-making process more
transparent regarding what she included and what she left out.
The text contains some major and minor errors. I was quite
surprised to discover my own work in Engendered Lives (Kaschak,
1992) discussed in a section dealing with the integration of socialist
and psychoanalytic approaches, neither of which is or ever has
been my perspective. Although I noticed other minor inaccuracies,
I found no other obvious errors of this magnitude. Nevertheless,
it would be too much of an irony for this error to be the only one
and I urge caution to the reader in this regard.
The treatment of the theories of women of color also mer-
its comment. Enns gives the topic its own chapter, which, while
providing a clear focus, also separates the many theorists in this
specialty from the theorists in the prior chapters. While providing
clarity, it simultaneously obfuscates by its very segregation. Femi-
nist gospel has it that virtually no women of color were involved in
the development of second-wave theory and practice, and I would
like to see this myth laid to rest. Although the disparity in numbers
between White women and women of color is worth noting, it is
also important, even crucial, for future generations to be aware
224
that neither White women nor Americans had a monopoly on the
early development of feminist theory and practice. I can attest to
this fact as someone who worked beside African American, Latina,
and Chicana colleagues from the earliest days.
I particularly regret the less than comprehensive nature of this
chapter in which the entire feminist women of color movement
in the United States is exemplified only by the work of Chicanas
(she makes the common assumption that Latinas are all women of
color) and Asian Americans. Enns acknowledges that she is only
providing examples, yet one must ask why this chapter is reduced
to only examples.
I was happy to see that Enns provides a chapter on global
feminisms, although her treatment is quite abbreviated. Feminist
therapy thrives in many nations of the world and grows organi-
cally from the cultures in which it is practiced, often not based on
American practices. Yet perhaps this would be another book. If
so, I hope someone writes it soon if only to lay to rest the miscon-
ception that feminist therapy is yet another American export.
The book’s final chapter is designed to assist the reader in de-
veloping her or his own approach to feminist therapy. This is a
tremendously useful chapter in its practical application and speci-
ficity. It is rare that a book can accomplish a lucid and accessible
presentation of feminist history and theory along with the specifics
of practice, and Enns has done just that. Although not perfect, this
book is a well-designed and thoughtful contribution to the field. I
recommend Feminist Theories and Feminist Psychotherapies par-
ticularly as a text in both undergraduate and graduate courses in
theory and practice.
REFERENCE
Kaschak, E. (1992). Engendered lives: A new psychology of
women’s experience. New York: Basic Books.
Ellyn Kaschak, Ph.D. is professor of psychology at San Jose State Uni-
versity in San Jose, California and the editor of the journal Women and
Therapy. She has published 10 books and numerous articles on feminist
theory and practice.
LIFE SPAN DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY FROM
A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
The Psychological Development of Girls and Women: Re-
thinking Change in Time, SHEILA GREEN. New York:
Routledge, 2003, 167 pp., $78.95 (hardcover), ISBN: 0-
415-17861-4; $26.95 (paperback), ISBN: 0-415-17862-2.
The collective theory on the development of women and girls
has rarely been reviewed with such breadth and nimbleness as
in this challenging gem of a book. Sheila Green takes the reader
quickly and critically through early developmental theories, invit-
ing readers to ask questions about the absence of context in
these theories, particularly that of sociocultural context and time.
This is not an introductory text; the review of fundamental the-
ories is necessarily abbreviated, cutting quickly to Green’s pri-
mary critique from a feminist perspective. Most compelling to
me was this book’s inclusion of developmental issues across the
life span, including themes relevant to older women. It is all
too rare that older women’s development receives significant at-
tention, even though most women will realize older age—with
REVIEWS
some assistance from good health and circumstance. To reflect
the promise as well as the potential challenges of this time of life,
Green makes efforts to describe older women’s experiences more
accurately.
Green attempts to take readers across the contextual landscape,
which is an active part of a dynamic socio-cultural-psychological
interactionism, a term used first by Martin and Sugarman (1999) in
The Psychology of Human Possibility and Constraint. The primary
limitation of this book is that the narrative provides broad brush
strokes and skips over or minimally acknowledges some powerful
factors that influence girls and women’s sense of self. Two such fac-
tors come to mind. In the area of biological factors, the drives and
decisions around parenting are described too succinctly. There
are compelling forces—emotional, biological, social, political, fi-
nancial, religious, cultural—involved in conceiving, the inability to
conceive, adoption, and the choice not to parent. These factors and
choices are anticipated in childhood, explored in adolescence, con-
sidered in adulthood, perhaps extended or experienced in middle
age, and certainly revisited in old age. The impact of these partic-
ular experiences and how they affect one’s sense of identity should
be a critically relevant part of any life span developmental theory
of women and girls. The other minimally referenced, yet critical
aspect of any women’s sense of self and identity is race. Culture is
discussed, but the role of racial identity and how it may influence
one’s sense of self as a woman is absent from this developmental
theory.
This book provides a springboard for thoughtful discussion and
further development of life span theories of girls’ and women’s
lives. As such, this book is a worthy read, and I recommend it for
consideration for advanced theory and women’s study courses.
REFERENCE
Martin, J., & Sugarman, J. (1999). The psychology of human pos-
sibility and constraint. Albany, NY: State University of New
York Press.
Laura Palmer, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and the Director of
Training of the Counseling Psychology Program, Department of Profes-
sional Psychology and Family Therapy at Seton Hall University. Her ar-
eas of research interest include emotional well-being in elderly women,
the neurocognitive impact of trauma, and the role of fatigue in learning
processes.
THE ROOTS OF RELATIONAL HEALTH
Communication Among Grandmothers, Mothers, and
Adult Daughters: A Qualitative Study of Maternal Re-
lationships, MICHELLE A. MILLER-DAY. Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum, 2004, 254 pp., $59.95 (hardcover), ISBN:
0805839798.
In Communication Among Grandmothers, Mothers, and
Adult Daughters, Michelle Miller-Day tackles an age-old
preoccupation—mother–daughter relationships—and infuses
new insight. By moving to Elkwood1 to live among six sets of
multigenerational families for 8 months, she was able to observe
and enter into their interaction firsthand. In doing so, she unravels
complex dynamics and captures communication patterns that are
co-created and transmitted from one generation of mothers to the