Abstract
Family therapy has become a popular mode of contemporary mental health care, encouraging more therapists to list marriage and family problems among their advertised specialties. This prominence has increased professional and public awareness of the ethical challenges inherent in the practice of marriage and family therapy. Working with relationships raises complicated issues regarding the role of the therapist vis-a-vis each individual in treatment in light of the focus on a couple or family system. Aspects of therapy as routine as emotional support become more difficult to provide when several clients are in the room. Acting as a gatekeeper for information flow between family members-including dealing with family secrets-can be burdensome. Power inequities between the genders and the generations are highlighted, thereby politicizing some therapeutic decisions. Complex legal and moral issues arise, such as dealing with child sexual abuse. Thus, the concept of therapeutic responsibility broadens and deepens (Green & Hanson, 1989; Hare-Mustin, 1980; Smith, 1991; Wendorf & Wendorf, 1985). The following case illustrates some of these complexities:
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