ABSTRACT
Every marriage and family therapist is faced with several major tasks: (1) to join with the clients without being absorbed into the system; (2) to assess the patterns of dysfunctional behavior, strengths and resources; (3) to assist clients in changing their patterns of interaction and the individual motives and behaviors which contribute to those patterns; and (4) to terminate in a way that leaves the clients feeling more empowered and behaving with greater effectiveness in a better functioning and more satisfying system than when they arrived. Each marriage and family theory attends to those four tasks with varying degrees of emphasis.
