A brief discription is given of behavioral techniques of family and marital therapy along the Tines of Knox, Stuart and Liberman. This approach is compared to the strategies of paradoxical interventions as used by therapists such as Haley, Jackson and Erickson. A family typology is presented by considering three elements of family systems: 1) morphostatic versus morphogenetic qualities of the system; 2) congruent versus paradoxical communication and 3) acute versus chronic problems. This results in six types of disturbed family interaction. These are combined in a matrix which serves as a guideline for dagnosis and differentiated therapeutic strategies along behavioral, communicational and cybernetic lines.