Toward an Integrative Model for Systemic Therapy with Individuals

The article discusses the current state of systemic therapies with individuals, identifying the epistemological underpinnings of different approaches, and proposing a possible integration. Systemic-relational models developed from both the studies on communication of the Palo Alto research tradition and the documented experience of clinicians devoted to the treatment of families in mental and general health care. From these roots derived different approaches to family therapy, which are currently undergoing a process of integration as highlighted by surveys on clinical private practice and by research studies. It is widely recognized that such an integration could be of help in expanding the possibilities and potentiating the effects of systemic interventions. Unfortunately, the available literature focuses mainly on couple and family therapy, neglecting the field of systemic interventions for individuals, whose methodological aspects receive little attention and whose potentialities are probably underest...