ABSTRACT
Strategic family therapy is a pragmatic, problem-cantered approach to family intervention which emphasizes behaviour change and problem resolution. A central figure associated with this approach was Gregory Bateson, trained as an anthropologist, who was influenced by concepts from general systems theory, communication theory, and the field of cybernetics. In comparison to strategic therapy, Alfred Adler's theory is both individual and interpersonal in nature. It emphasizes such important internal states as subjective perceptions, unconscious personal goals; individual life style, inferiority feelings, and a compensatory striving to overcome ones felt inferiority. Haley, as a major proponent of the strategic approach, conceptualized symptoms as a style of behaviour adapted to the ongoing behaviour of other people in the system. In essence they are acts of communication within the social system. One of the important functions which symptoms serve, according to strategic therapists, is the balancing of power in family and marital relationships.
