Abstract
This article describes brief focused therapy with a traumatized girl whose symptoms in response to her mother's horrible suicide served to stabilize and fixate the bereaved family so that the loss of the mother could be avoided and denied. The therapists' decision to combine individual work with the child and family therapy is highlighted. An account is given of the interventions used to reduce the girl's phobic symptoms, preempt the possible development of incest, and allow the family to start grieving normally. Within a systems framework based on integrating Cathexis material with the racket system, a number of different approaches were used, including TA, Gestalt, behavioral techniques, and bereavement counseling.