ABSTRACT

Because systemic thinking (von Bertalanffy, 1968) is integral to approaches to family therapy, including Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Chapter One explicates the concepts that underly system thinking as well as cybernetics and communication theories. Systemic thinking is a worldview, not a theory, because it describes a basic way of looking at and seeing phenomena as wholes. The chapter covers basics of systemic thinking, including such ideas as wholeness, boundaries and rules, homeostasis, and process versus content. Also covered are basic cybernetic concepts such as circularity, recursion, feedback loops, and first- and second-order change. Finally, communication theory axioms are described. The chapter ends with a description of how these ideas integrate into family therapy, including examples.