The Practice of Systemic Therapy
The systemic lens
Systemic practice rests on cybernetics: families are rule-governed systems that regulate themselves through feedback loops. Negative feedback maintains homeostasis (morphostasis); positive feedback permits change (morphogenesis). Know the difference between first-order practice (therapist observes and intervenes from outside) and second-order practice (therapist is part of the observed system and must account for their own influence).
You must be able to name and contrast the major models: structural (boundaries, hierarchy, subsystems, enmeshment/disengagement, enactment), strategic/MRI (sequences, directives, reframing), Milan (hypothesizing, circularity, neutrality, positive connotation), Bowen (differentiation, triangulation, multigenerational transmission, genogram, detriangulation, therapist self), experiential (Satir, Whitaker), solution-focused (exceptions, miracle question, scaling), and narrative (externalization, unique outcomes, re-authoring).
Traps in questions
- Linear causality smuggled into stem wording. Any question asking "what causes the child's behavior" is inviting a circular answer.
- Confusing triangulation (Bowen) with triangulating a third party into session (structural technique).
- Assuming "systemic" always means the whole family in the room; systems work can be done with one person.
- Conflating complementarity (reciprocal, mutually reinforcing differences) with symmetry (competitive equality).
- Missing punctuation: each member describes a different starting point in the same loop.
Rule of thumb
Convert every linear question into a circular one. "Why does he act out?" becomes "Who notices first, what does each person do next, and what happens after that?"
Worked example: Mother complains her son is defiant; father withdraws. Linear hypothesis: the son is the problem. Circular hypothesis: when parental tension rises, father increases distance, mother escalates with the son, and the son's symptoms stabilize the couple's distance by detouring conflict through the child. Intervention targets the detour, not the boy.