ABSTRACT
If things become too uncomfortable or intense for the patient, the clinician may turn to examine the symptom or illness and its impact on the family. If the patient has not drawn the place of the illness, the clinician may say:
I know you have been plagued by your illness for a very long time. If you had to put the illness (symptom) into this picture – where might you place it? Whom does the illness affect most? What relationships does it get in the way of? If it got bigger or worse, which relationships might be affected next?
