‘The Ancient Cult of Madame’: when therapists trade curiosity for certainty

Abstract

An experience in which the author followed his own objectives rather than the patient's, leading to a tragic end, is evoked as a frame for the presentation and discussion of a family treatment where the therapeutic process led by the therapist may have exceeded the needs and expectation of the family members. This is followed by a discussion about potential problems caused by a therapist's fascination for family stories, since its effects may be epistemologically discontinuous from, if not contradictory to, Cecchin's recommendation for ‘curiosity’ as a central dictum of the therapist's stance.