The Curse: A Study in Family Communication
JAMES B. RAYBIN M.D.1
1 Instructor, department of psychiatry, University of Colorado Medical Center
The curse, or sinister prophecy, is discussed from the viewpoint of its role in family communications. Illustrations are presented from four families. The creation and maintenance of a curse as part of a larger family mythology involves individual problems in identification and magical thinking, as well as family problems of homeostasis and the transmission of irrationality. Therapy of individuals and families caught up in a mythological system is an arduous task, as there is much resistance to change what is often seen as one's inevitable fate.
