ABSTRACT
The conviction that human beings have a need for connection with and confirmation from members of their family has been inherent in approaches to family therapy from the very beginning. However, family therapists usually focus on what occurs between individuals; emotions, viewed as occurring within individuals, are most often not addressed. Although there have been exceptions (Liddle, Dakof & Diamond, 1991), emotional responses have usually been considered unimportant or even subversive to systemic theory and therapeutic practice (Krause, 1993).
