Chapter 13, Chapter 8 - Part 2 Summary and Analysis

Erickson treats the entire problem, rather than permanently labeling any individual in the family as the problem. Here, Erickson had to work with the parents on their dynamic, including extreme sexual tensions, while at the same time serving as the daughter's therapist. The parents were so competitive about this, that one of the parents had spent a week in the same town where the daughter lives for the sole purpose of helping the daughter get to therapy. That person then has to prevent the mother from removing the girl from the therapeutic relationship. The girl's body image needed improvement, and she needed to lose a lot of weight. The therapist worked to encourage the girl to voice her criticisms of her mother and re-work her perception of her father's behaviors, which included some incorrect perceptions...