ABSTRACT
Although some family therapists insist on having all members of a family present to conduct therapy, this is not always possible. Family members are frequently unavailable or unwilling to participate in treatment. Therapists who lack the flexibility to modify interventions to treat clients whose views of the world differ markedly from the therapist's own, limit their clientele and thereby diminish their therapeutic impact. Family therapy with one person has been advocated by Bowen (1978). In addition, there is empirical evidence pointing to the effectiveness of treating one person within a family therapy conceptual paradigm (Szapocznik, Kurtines, Foote, Perez-Vidal, & Hervis, 1983).
