Family Therapy for a Couple Undecided about Marriage

Abstract

　This is a report of a case of Family Therapy in which a woman who had been proposed marriage was unable to make up her mind for half a year and became depressed.

　She and her fiancé had undergone Family Therapy four times. After the therapy they were able to decide by breaking the "cycle of indecision" between them. As a result, the woman recovered from her depression.

　We considered the cycle of indecision to be supported by mutual double bind, so we studied both the individual life cycles and the family life cycles of the patients.

　Prior to Family Therapy the woman had undergone individual counseling. When she came to Family Therapy, we were also engulfed in her "cycle of indecision".

　This process caused us some consern over the relation between individual counseling and Family Therapy.