Reflections during a study on family therapy with drug addicts

This article presents ideas and reflections emerging during a project on family therapy with drug abusers. Initially inspired by the writings of Stanton and Todd on the subject, the project developed into a recursive and self-reflective process, characterized by increasing doubts about the usefulness of categorization of families, of pre-planning therapy, and of the therapist as an "expert." The limitations of approaches that emphasize the importance of understanding the family structure as the basis for changing it are discussed, particularly with respect to how they decrease therapist flexibility and may block the family's finding their own solution. Alternative approaches to practice and research are also discussed, bearing on ideas particularly formulated by theoreticians and practitioners inspired by second-order cybernetics.