Family diagnosis, life cycle and cultural context

The authors think that the evolutionary perspective is fundamental in family diagnosis. Therefore, they remark the value and the limits of the use of "normal" life cycle of the family as a map to evaluate the family, to assign meaning to its difficulties and to single out the possible goals of therapy. By means of a case example, the authors show how it is possible to utilize profitably the idea of life cycle, bearing in mind the cultural context of the family.