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Abstract
This paper describes therapy with a lesbian stepfamily with an electively mute child. A central factor in the child electing to be mute was fear of violating the parental injunction not to tell anyone about the parents' lifestyle. Concurrent family and individual sessions involved "thought doubling," a strategic manoeuvre. This procedure was used to uncover the etiology of the child's mutism. After the parents released the child from the imposed vow of secrecy her mutism stopped.