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Overview of systemic therapy and its role in gestalt therapy

Overview of systemic therapy and its role in gestalt therapy

Systems thinkers see things in the context of their environment, and not in isolation. For example, some auto mechanics faced with cars that won’t start will look beyond whether or not there is gas in the tank: they will also consider whether it rained the night before and whether this might have caused a wet electrical outlet. . Mechanics like these have a similar outlook on life as Gestalt therapists, though perhaps neither would appreciate the connection.

Gestalt therapy is a systems-based approach that views human beings as having infinite potential, though this is often stifled by both past and present environmental experiences. However, Gestalt does not claim exclusive rights to Systemic Therapy. Just resort to technique when appropriate. Systemic Family Therapy (also known as Couple and Family Therapy and sometimes Family Systems Therapy) focuses on the family and intimate relationships to foster change. It examines the patterns of interactions and emphasizes the contribution that a healthy family makes to psychological health.

The common thread running through all the different permutations of Systemic Family Therapy is the belief that involving families and other intimate relationships in psychotherapy is beneficial. Significant others can be encouraged to participate in healing sessions and play an important role in translating therapeutic decisions into reality. These significant others need not have played a role in the problem under attention, nor are they necessarily wives, husbands, or lovers. They may include anyone who has been involved in a long-term supportive relationship with the subject.

Systemic Therapy was born from Family Therapy. It has its roots in the Milan Systems approach developed by Mara Palazzoli in 1971 and based in turn on Gregory Bateson’s theory of Cybernetics. Bateson (married to Margaret Mead) had built his theories on what he perceived to be the natural order of the universe. In the 1940s, he worked on theories that extended this logic to help understand people within their social context.

Early adaptations drew heavily on existing bodies of biological and physiological knowledge. Later, Mead and Bateson built second-order models of cybernetics in which the subjective observer also becomes part of the observed system. Following this revelation, systemic therapy moved away from linear causality towards a model in which individual reality is linguistically and socially constructed.

Narrative theory is a second string of the same bow. Here the focus is on how individual and group culture affects behavior. As the individual’s life story unfolds, it becomes clear that there is no such thing as absolute truth and that we create meaning from the stories of our lives. Also, the person is never the problem, the problem is the problem, period.

There are strong links between Systemic Theory, Narrative Theory and Gestalt. The ways in which people lose and then regain their sense of balance fascinated Perls and other Gestaltists. Narrative theorists talk about how storytelling contributes therapeutically to this process. Systemic Therapy emphasizes the roles played by therapists and significant others. Gestalt therapists combine these theories to help their clients understand themselves in terms of where they came from and where they are. Then they help them shed unnecessary baggage and move toward achieving their true potential.

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