Family therapy as a distinct method of psychotherapy practice did not actually emerge until the early 1960s. However, the conceptual and clinical influences that informed the development of family therapy can be traced to a much earlier period. The seeds of contemporary family therapy were planted by those engaged in family-centred research on the etiology of schizophrenia in the 1950s, the tillers of this soil were from a much earlier historical period. Beginning with the development of professional social work in the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, along with the early group work, marriage counseling, and child guidance movements in the early 20th century, the soil from which family therapy was to spring forth was duly cultivated (Becvar & Becvar, 2000; Nichols & Schwartz, 2008; Sayger, Homrich, & Horne, 2000).