Using Psychodynamic Concepts in Strategic Family Therapy: a Suicidal Adolescent Case

Describes using strategic family therapy in the treatment of a suicidal 16 yr old female. The cotherapists conceptualized the case psychoanalytically & systematically. Their understanding of psychodynamics enhanced their ability to tailor their interventions to the family’s unique style & capacities. An appreciation of individual ego strengths, defenses, affects & unacknowledged impulses led to the construction of effective metaphors & a set of interventions isomorphic to the family patterns.