Main description:

This book provides an overview of the basic concepts of a systems theoretical perspective using families and family therapy as examples and illustrations of their application in professional practice. This meta-perspective focuses on viewing problems in context. The difference between first-order and second-order cybernetics is explicated. Readers then are invited to see themselves as parts of the systems with which they are working consistent with a second-order cybernetics perspective. Along the way a difference between modernism and post-modernism as well as constructionism and social constructionism also are described. In addition, theories of individual and family development are presented with implications for their use in family therapy. The book concludes with more than 100 examples of how the meta-perspective of systems theory can be used in work with families.

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Introduction: How to Use This Book
Chapter 1: About Theories
Chapter 2: Systems Theory/Cybernetics:A Paradigm Shift
Chapter 3: First-Order Cybernetics: Definitions Of Concepts
Chapter 4: Second-Order Cybernetics: Definitions Of Concepts
Chapter 5: Family Interpretive: Systems/Stories
Chapter 6: Family Development through the Life Cycle
Chapter 7: The Family as System
Chapter 8: A Critique and Defense of a Systems Perspective
Chapter 9: Implications for Family Therapy
Chapter 10: In Conclusion
References
Index