Chapter 7, Marriage & Family Dilemmas Summary and Analysis

Erickson has specific ideas about the use of mood stabilizers and tranquilizers. This is in part because he feels that when the circumstances need to be changed, it is wrong to prevent healthy growth by substituting sedatives for good therapy. Solving problems associated with alcohol, prescription tranquilizer, and illegal drug use are all included in this chapter. Normally, the problem extends beyond the substance abuser and what is needed is actually a change of habituated behavior. He cites examples of a couple that ceased to have an alcohol problem when they bought a trailer and took up camping on the weekends. The successful outcome seems bizarre without knowledge of the therapeutic intervention by Erickson and his staff.

This chapter begins with discussion of a marriage that has lasted a number of years and quite possibly...