ABSTRACT

In Chapter 11 we saw that resistance occurs when the therapist invites the family to change but the family respond by appearing to reject this invitation. Instead they plead helplessness, they blame someone else for not solving the problem, or they try to distract the therapist away from the focus of therapy. If the therapist responds by co-constructing with the family their therapeutic dilemma which states the disadvantages of the problem and the disadvantages of taking responsibility to resolve the problem, then a therapeutic crisis will often occur.