ABSTRACT
Psychological therapy can be conceptualised as a process that takes place within a dynamic system. It is aimed at creating more desirable attractor states through second-order, transformational change. Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) covers interactions within and between intrapersonal, interpersonal and sociopolitical contexts, with historical and developmental chronologies. It provides a meta-theoretical framework within which more specific modes of therapy can be conceptualised. In order to address the power structures that oppress girls and predispose them, particularly, to internalising mental health problems, therapy needs to adopt feminist principles, although whether and when therapy is explicitly named as feminist depends on context. Both DST and feminist approaches imply that promoting girls’ resilience and preventing mental health problems will be more effective than intervening after mental health problems develop, and feminist principles include the widening of psychological practice to embrace sociopolitical action.
