Tales full of sound and fury: a cultural approach to family therapeutic work and research in rural Scandinavia.

The concept of "culture" figured prominently in the development of family therapy. Recent conceptualizations, however, have tended to focus primarily on the ideational dimensions of culture. While not disputing that meanings and other ideas constitute significant features of group lifeways, this article proposes a return to earlier anthropological framings that incorporate material and ideational dimensions of cultures. To illustrate how his expanded concept may serve as a guide for therapeutic work, the article describes therapy with one family at a clinic in rural Scandinavia. We especially focus on the place of key symbols as historical links between the ideational and material dimensions of cultures. The perspective developed here is one of seeing cultures as sets of interpenetrating actions and ideas shaped by as well as shaping their practitioners.

Evolution of child psychiatric teamwork in a somatic hospital.

This paper outlines the evolution of child psychiatric team work within the context of a general hospital. It focuses especially on the professional challenges and systemic problems arising during this 8 year long process. The question of what happens when two cultures meet in the same arena is discussed, and the process whereby a minority becomes a reality in a well-established majority system is described. Special attention is devoted to those principles appearing to play a major role in the evolutionary process. Prominent among these are: (1) operating within the already established; (2) transforming the 'ugly duckling into a swan', and (3) breaking into the established. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the problems associated with maintaining enthusiasm in the team, scapegoating, and 'burn out'.

Material, myth, and magic: a cultural approach to family therapy.

This paper presents a model for a therapeutic approach to the cultural systems of families. Using anthropologically derived concepts of material and ideational planes of culture, magic, and ritualistic intervention, the inducement of culture change in frozen familial systems is framed in dialectical terms. Four brief case studies are presented describing the systems engaged, the material-ideational rituals employed, and the cultural transformations induced. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some of the theoretical and practical implications of this cultural approach to the family in therapy.