Function at the junction: revisiting the idea of functionality in family therapy

With the emergence of postmodern models and critiques, the concept of symptom functionality has lost favor in the family therapy field. To be reconsidered as clinically valuable it must both demonstrate pragmatic utility and meet ethical and conceptual criteria. Functional hypotheses cannot be believed too strongly, used to blame, or employed without considerations of biology. Symptom functionality is considered in its strong and weak versions. Tempered by the more ecological weak sense, strong-sense functional hypotheses are presented as one form of description that can guide a therapist's actions.