The Death of Resistance

For any conceptual distinction to be useful ( 5 ) within the field of family therapy, it needs to lead to some clear answers to the question: What does this distinction mean for clinical practice? The distinction between (a) the family‐as‐a‐system, and (b) family‐therapy‐as‐a‐system leads to a clinical perspective, or stance, that includes a focus on changing. Once this focus is clear, the therapist can help to create the expectation of changing and consequently promote changing. That is, techniques can be developed using positive feedback loops. 1 Moreover, this distinction leads to a therapeutic stance in which not changing is a surprise.