ABSTRACT
Insights from systems theory and cybernetics have informed the development of couple and family therapy from its inception. This chapter considers the evolution of ideas from systems theory within the context of couple and family therapy. Family therapy emerged simultaneously in the 1950s in different locations in the United States and the United Kingdom, and within a variety of different health services, health professions, therapeutic and research traditions. The pioneers of family therapy came from many professions including social work, psychiatry, and psychology. The British anthropologist Gregory Bateson is arguably the single most influential figure in the history of family therapy, and is largely responsible for the introduction of systems theory into the field of couple and family therapy. Empirical research on family processes suggests that the idea of circular causality may be an oversimplification, and that problematic family behavior in some instances may involve escalating spirals of interaction.
