ABSTRACT
The inspirational influence of Gregory Bateson’s anthropological work in the development of family therapy, the phenomenon of “culture” did not receive much attention in the beginning of the life of the discipline. Systemic psychotherapy has a bundle of theories and models, which have been influenced by the early choice of a behavioural direction and are characterized by a theoretical emphasis on the general and the abstract rather than on the process of abstraction. Emotions are at the centre of the theoretical paradigm in psychoanalysis. These are rudimentary feelings, motivations, and experiences that provide the driving force of the infant’s emotional and cognitive development. Psychoanalysis has made contributions to the universal domain, whereas systemic psychotherapy theory has been built around the idea of difference. The chapter argues that therapist may combine the therapeutic and universal models by clarifying what might be assumed to belong to the pre-discursive and how the social-cultural context as expressed through discursive relationships might be accessed.
