Theoretical Perspective: Systemic

Historical Roots

Depending on viewpoints, different developmental pathways of the systemic approach can be identified such as (i) family therapy schools, (ii) solution focused and resource oriented concepts of clinical practice, and (iii) the dynamic systems approach in complexity science. The first two grew up on the soil of psychotherapy practice whereas the third belongs to the field of formal and empirical sciences. Family therapy as well as solution-focused approaches intend to stimulate changes of individual or interpersonal patterns (patterns of feeling, thinking, behaving, and of social communication). In order to do this, they need an idea of how complex systems create and transform such patterns. In the last [Page 1024]two decades, the theories and methodologies of complex dynamic systems were used to get such ideas. ...