This paper is a preliminary contribution to the potentially insidious problem of the referring person in family therapy. I n (yur experience, our failure to examine this problem according to the systemic epistemology was the root of several unsuccessful therapies. A description of those who, most often, are the referring persons to be suspected of hawing become homeostatic members of the family i s given. We also present sketches of the behavior we most often observe in families which are maintaining a homeostatic bond with the referring person. Lastly, we explain and give exumples of the tactics &wised by our team to reveal and resolve this problem.' *Translated from Italian

This article presents a therapeutic tactic called ritualized prescription which is specifically aimed at breaking up those behaviors through which each parent disqualifies and sabotages the initiatives and directions of the other parent in his relation with the children. On the fundamental principle of the conceptual systemic model it is evidenced how this prescription, even in cases when it is not followed, inevitably supplies the therapists with relevant information for the understanding of the family's functioning. With families following the prescription, fast and satisfying changes are observed.

No abstract

The use of systemic models in family therapy obliged our team to devise therapeutic tasks involving the entire family. Among these, one was found to be extremely effective: the prescribing of a family ritual. This article gives details of on such example aimed at the destruction of a myth that had been created by three generations of a family. In order that the reader may have a adequate understanding of this ritual, were shall fully describe the story of the family and of the transgenerational evolution of this myth. In the description of the treatment of the family, certain errors were made by the therapists that will come to light-errors that, as usual, were far more instructive than the actual successes. Eventually, it was the very understanding of these errors and their repercussions that led us to the successful prescription of the ritual. Finally, detailed analysis of the substance and aim of the ritual will illustrate and explain exactly what we mean by the term ritual.

This is a report on the successful resolution of behavior problems (encopresis and anorexia, respectively) in two small children through the brief therapy of their parents. Treatment was based on general systems theory and the cybernetic model and employed interventions designed specifically to bring about rapid change in family interaction. The course of the treatments, as well as the technical problems arising out of such rapid changes, are discussed.