Money matters: A case study of a therapist's and a family's joint enactment of monetary issues in family therapy

Anthony Arcuri*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Family therapists in private practice are required to negotiate monetary issues with clients regularly. However, therapists may hold conflicting feelings about receiving payments in family therapy, given the mix of therapeutic and financial implications. Such internal conflicts may be enacted and contribute to unhelpful consequences when families also bring their own monetary conflicts into the therapeutic setting. This paper outlines a case study of a joint enactment of monetary issues, where the family silently misses payment for several sessions, and the therapist responds first with silence and then with a clumsy, nontherapeutic attempt to address the issue. The family drops out of therapy but fortuitously returns later and provides a context for their monetary issues, which contributes to a positive therapeutic outcome and highlights several important implications for family therapy in private practice.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)518-523
    Number of pages6
    JournalAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy
    Volume36
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2015

    Keywords

    • enactments
    • fees
    • internal conflict
    • missed payments
    • private practice

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