ABSTRACT
Family therapy prefers to work with a multi-generational family group because it believes that stimulating the conversation between family members is an integral part of the healing process. Some family therapists describe this process as the unfolding of the `unsaid' (Larner 2000). Sometimes what needs to be said is a family secret such as the different parentage of a child. Sometimes, it is just mundane resentments that have never been spoken about before. For instance, a wife may have stored up resentment about how she and the family have had to move to accommodate the husband's work. Sometimes, despite our belief that blame is not helpful, someone in the family has always blamed themselves for problems. Again an example might be where a father believes his daughter has anorexia because it is in his genes as his sister and mother had anorexia. In these situations, the family therapist has a role to stimulate and make safe any communication and to balance any critical communication with positive ones.
