Collaboration between family therapists and physicians has attracted increasing attention in the field of family therapy. Family therapists practicing in medical settings encounter many stimulating oppoutunities and challenges. This paper focuses on the experience of the authors providing family therapy in a primary care medical setting which is also a family medicine residency program. The authors discuss the role of physician and patient expectations in treatment as well as the influence of the medical context on the development of family therpists.

The patient caseload is an interactional system. As providers we not only have an effect on our patients, but also are affected by them, and through us they have an effect on each other. The authors use personal experience and observation to explore the interactive nature of primary care.