Married with no children

A strategic family therapy approach was applied in clinical work with a sev erely psychotic woman. The client was married bur had no children. Her symp toms were blocking the couple's transition to the child bearing stage of fa mily life. Multiple problems were simultaneously addressed by focusing on o ne issue. The therapist pushed the client to change one particular aspect o f her situation and this forced numerous issues to the foreground. The para doxical aspects of the client's situation and their implications for therap y are described. The therapy is compared and contrasted with the therapy of youngs adult clients exhibiting severely psychotic symptoms while struggli ng with the issue of emancipation described by Haley (1997).