Imber-Black (1981; Dickerson, 2024), formerly Coppersmith, successfully reframed some behavior problems not as psychopathology or delinquency but as immaturity. Her article, subtitled "He's Not Bad, He's Not Mad, He's Just Young!” helped set a path for family therapy using the old systems idea that it is easier to change the music than to change the dancers. When the music is a song of madness, families tend to respond more kindly but also more helplessly, which in turn pushes the individual further into the sickbed. When it's a song of misconduct, families tend to respond more actively but less kindly, which in turn makes the individual more rebellious.

Framing disruptive behavior as immature (“he’s just young”) tends to elicit more effective responses from the family. After all, the fam

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