Multiple family therapy in a residential setting for adolescents*

Treating severely disturbed adolescents in a residential setting without including the family seems impossible. Several ways of letting the family participate in the clinical treatment are discussed. The focus of this article lies in multiple family therapy: groups of family members, adolescents and staff are treating each other. The objects of these meetings are manifold: to modify the stereotyped views that all the participants have of each other, to reduce the isolation of the family which is created by their child's admission, to stimulate interaction and mutual correction between family members, adolescents and staff, and to create a warm-up for and understanding of family system therapy. These multiple family sessions, which take place in a clinic with sixty disturbed adolescents, have a strong influence on the entire therapeutic process. Their impact is felt in the group psychotherapy, psychodrama and other forms of therapy.