ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that guiding the relationship between each of these pairs: formulation-evaluation, formulation-intervention and evaluation-intervention are the concept of working collaboratively with families and others. It highlights some significant and enduring systemic ideas and their applications in systemic practice. The book discusses the processes involved in formulation that have evolved within systemic practice. It sets out a model of systemic formulation and focuses on the influential approach to progressive hypothesizing developed by the Milan team. The book reviews research into family therapy, process, and outcome as the empirical basis for family therapy and systemic practice. It shows how clear formulation assists the research endeavour. Systemic thinking offers a new way of seeing human problems and offers a coherent and dynamic framework in conceptualizing such problems. In offering a recursive approach to formulation, systemic thinking drives our approach to conceptual eclecticism.
