ABSTRACT
Worries about the difficulties of affording the time or financial cost of treatment are best worked with at face value first. In contrast to Gretchen and Clark, after six sessions, Mr. and Mrs. Benton felt that their seven-year-old depressed son, Ned, had had enough therapy. The kinds of functions symptoms serve are as diverse as people and circumstances. Sometimes symptoms provide a stabilizing function for patients; these symptoms act as a splint to shore up shaky psychological functioning in a particular area. Beyond maintaining a crucial interpersonal connection, a symptom may serve to maintain an internal connection to a vital feeling of aliveness, choice, or control. Miriam's symptoms provided her with increased contact with her husband as well as some relief from onerous household duties. Successful treatment would need to include some way of ensuring continuation of the gratifications her symptoms provided her before she could be willing to let the symptoms.
