[Family therapy: what is at stake in its evolution and its present application]

Applying family therapy remains marginal in several child psychiatric clinics in spite of a favorable theoretical context. The author describes certain difficulties that the family therapist faces and places them into the context of the development of family therapy. Secondly, he shows the basic mechanisms that support this kind of intervention and the constant that is revealed in present practice. At the same time, the author offers a practical model allowing both the use of a psychoanalytical perspective and the systemic approach.