I continue the theme of meta-communication as the only means of breaking out of the vicious circle of “games without end,” as systemic psychotherapy refers to the series of repetitive conflict interactions that never lead to resolution. One way to step out of this vicious circle and to look from a higher (meta-) level is […]
According to systemic psychotherapy, very often a problem is nothing more than a repeating series of unsuccessful attempts to solve it. Most commonly, these are recurring relational patterns with other people that escalate into conflict each time and lead to a dead end. Systemic therapists call these patterns “endless games,” and they are among the […]
Which Comes First – the Chicken or the Egg? If you can answer this question, you will understand who is responsible for the way you feel and react when communication with another person becomes difficult. And if you do not know the correct answer, here is my proposal: you are responsible. If you understand this—not […]
One of the most important things to understand about communication is that when we converse with another person, we are not only exchanging information – we are also exchanging emotional attitudes. In systemic psychotherapy, these two layers are called the “content aspect” and the “relationship aspect.” Of the two, what truly matters for successful communication […]
It seems that Exupéry understood not only Gestalt therapy, but also systemic psychotherapy, because he “tested” adults with his famous Drawing Number One and Drawing Number Two. He could be seen as a secret predecessor of this approach in psychotherapy, because long before systemic psychotherapists he discovered that there exists a reality different from the […]
The systemic approach in psychotherapy views the behavior of the identified patient as an expression of failed attempts to adapt to a dysfunctional family system. It challenges the conventional criterion of “adapting to reality” as an indicator of mental health or illness. “We are talking about a seemingly self-evident assumption that there exists an actual, […]
“The ability to live with relative realities, with questions that have no answer, with the knowledge that you know nothing and with the paradoxical unconsciousnesses of existence—this is precisely the essence of human maturity and the resulting tolerance toward others.” — Paul Watzlawick I very much like this thought by Paul Watzlawick from his book […]
Why in systemic psychotherapy there are no “ill individuals,” but ill relationships There is one school in psychotherapy that I have not written about in my blog so far, yet one to which I owe an enormous amount – systemic psychotherapy. When I first encountered it, I was deeply impressed by its paradigm for understanding […]
