The Secret Life of Families : Making Decisions about Secrets - When Keeping Secrets Can Harm You, When Keeping Secrets Can Heal You - And How to Know the Difference

A wife keeps a secret bank account.... A husband has an affair.... A teen refuses to say where she goes at night.... A family therapist for twenty-five years, Evan Imber-Black fills her book with compelling real-life stories of people confronting the dilemmas of family secrets. She challenges the popular notion that secrets are always bad and that the best medicine is to tell all; thoughtless "truth-telling" (often modeled by talk shows) can create years of dangerous fallout. With insight and compassion, "The Secret Life of Families" offers realistic guidance on a range of issues: -- how to tell when a secret is hurting your family -- how to handle difficult issues like sexuality, race or religion, adoption and artificial insemination, serious illness, and divorce -- what to tell -- and not to tell -- young children -- questions to ask yourself before revealing an important secret -- what to expect after a secret is opened; and much more