ABSTRACT
The use of prescribed symbolic acts within the therapy process can facilitate a number of changes for both families and for couples. Rituals can serve as markers for entrances into and exits out of a system, to delineate boundaries within and around a system, and to redefine the membership of a system (Imber-Black, 1989). Rituals are useful in helping families to adopt new roles (Imber-Black, 1989) and to let go of the familiar yet rigid interactive patterns they tend to cling to tenaciously. Since rituals are able to address a large variety of issues, they are applicable across a wide range of therapeutic orientations.
