This paper has described some of the interventions developed at the Ackerman Brief Therapy Project in treating the families of symptomatic children. The interventions are based upon a differential diagnosis of the family system and upon an evaluation of that system's resistance to change. They are classified as compliance-based or defiance-based, depending upon the family's degree of anxiety, motivation, and resistance. Paradoxical interventions, which are defiance-based, are used as a clinical tool in dealing with resistance and circumventing the power struggle between therapist and family. A consultation group acting as a Greek chorus underlines the therapist's interventions and comments on the consequences of systemic change. This group is also sometimes used to form a therapeutic triangle among the family, therapist and group, with the therapist and group debating over the family's ability to change.