The work which was done over a number of years by a psychiatrist and a psychiatric social worker with one large family is described firstly in terms of the psychotherapy of one girl, and secondly of the therapeutic work with the remainder of the family. It was a group of closely interdependent immature people of the kind often thought beyond help, and the girl remained completely silent throughout her nevertheless fruitful sessions. The value of the paper lies in the detail given by the authors of their method of work, which include their basic concepts to approaching their understanding of the situation (particularly interesting in the case of a totally silent patient), their method of interpretation and of management, and above all a most honest account of their own countertransference difficulties and how these were worked out and used as part of the therapy.