Some factors which impede observation, intervention and change in the assessment and treatment of the ethnocultural minority family result from conceptual stereotyping, stereotyped behavior and interactions comprising pseudopsychologies. Social science literature has played a role in psychosocial stereotyping as well. One of the primary factors in this stereotyping pertains to "conceptual condensations," in which both research and therapy regarding the functions and treatment of families on the basis of economic and ethnocultural variables. A number of case examples support the contention that inattention to unique factors in individuals and family units impede observation, intervention and change. Another major difficulty resides in the interface between conceptual imagery and clinical practice where stereotyped images of individuals or family units are compounded by stereotyped behavior, activities, and interaction between the therapist and the patient and/or patient unit. In cases of bilingual clients and therapists, and consideration of which language to use in therapy can often be problematical. The therapists' own ethnocentrism and personal prejudices also contribute to the problem. Observations of successful strategies employed in such situations, recognition of the polarities between cultural factors and the actual family, individual and therapist, and the use of co-therapy could all contribute to improving this dilemma. (Author/EB)