ABSTRACT
This chapter explores shared ground between systemic and psychoanalytic orientations, and specifically teases out connections between the systemic perspective on reflexivity and reflecting processes and the psychoanalytic perspective on reflective functioning. It shows that the truly innovative nature of integrative thinking across the different therapeutic orientations is most clearly demonstrated in the endeavour to increase the range of those engaged and helped by psychotherapy. In certain important respects, the psychoanalytic perspective on reflective functioning is broadly consistent with the development of object relations thinking in psychoanalysis. Similarity between the concept of reflective functioning and the systemic idea of reflexivity is striking. It is therapeutic territory where the orientations have much to learn from each other and where constructive communication across ideologically-charged divides can be greatly facilitated by disentangling the levels of theory and of therapeutic technique.
