ABSTRACT
“My daughter sent me to see you and, because I am a good mother, I had to do as she asked me to and I requested an appointment. You are highly recommended, but you should know that I have had a lot of therapy in my life!” This is how Catalina, a 59-year-old Chilean woman, introduced her problem in the first session at the Brief Therapy Center of the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, California. “My daughter believes – and I agree with her – that I am in an abusive relationship. I walk on eggshells around my husband because if I happen to say something that he doesn’t like – and I never know what that might be – he yells at me, becomes threatening and abusive. He has never hit me but I am nervous, insecure, and feel vulnerable.”
