ABSTRACT
Allying with a subsystem is a technique emphasized most in structural family therapy. It is employed to help develop appropriate boundaries within a family to upset existing dysfunctional organization of power and distance/closeness relationships. Examples are dealing with families in which: the members are too tightly involved or triangulated; a child or grandparent is more dominant than the parent; or one spouse appears to dominate the other. By entering into a temporary alliance with one subsystem (parents or children), the therapist adds her power, prestige, and authority to that person or group. She can later shift her alliance to another subsystem to strengthen the second group in a new way after obtaining a shift in the family’s pattern of organization through her first move.
