THE SYSTEMIC THEORY

BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS

AND ASSUMPTIONS
 System theory arose in early and
mid-20th century.
 It was developed by Nathan
Ackerman, Virginia Satir and
Salvador Minuchin
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS

 Thus, the significance of human

behaviour must be always understood
within a relational context.
 Principle: Rather than viewing problems
as belongs to an individual, the systems
theory sees problems as created and
maintained by the system as a whole.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS
AND ASSUMPTIONS:
 The systems theory considers
different levels of the environment
as “systems” where the functioning
of the whole system is dependent on
the interaction between the parts.
 The family, school, church, and
community are all systems
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS
AND ASSUMPTIONS:
 Each system consists of parts or sub
systems.
 For example, the family may consist
of the mother, father, individual
children, adopted children and
grandparents.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS
AND ASSUMPTIONS:

 The school normally consists

of the management, academic
and administrative staff and
learners.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS
AND ASSUMPTIONS:

 The systematic approach stresses the

importance of understanding
individuals in the context of the
surroundings that influence them
from day to day.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS:

 It emphasizes that the phenomena

under investigation e.g. the child,
family, schools, and society
comprise of mutually interrelated
components (systems) rather than
single entities and that they have a
direct influence on one another.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS:

 Therefore, to understand the system

as a whole we have to examine the
relationship between the parts.
 The balance or harmony of the
system is dependent on these
relationships and whatever happens
in one part will affect all other parts.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS:

 Changes in the system will disturb

the balance of the system and put
the system under threat.
 For example, if the mother of the
family dies, all others in the family
will be affected and the survival of
the system will come under threat.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS:

 To restore that balance and

subsequent survival of the system,
adjustments will have to be made
with regard to the normal patterns
of behaviour.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS:

 For example, if the deceased mother

was primarily responsible for
cooking in the house, this function
will have to be taken by other
persons in the family to ensure that
balance is restored
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS:

 In order to survive in this modern

world, the individual is required to
adjust to complex social systems in

his/her environment.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS
AND ASSUMPTIONS:
 Counselling should therefore not
only focus on ways and means to
assist people with their problems
on an individual basis, but should
also find ways to understand the
principles by which systems in
society operate.
 BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS AND
ASSUMPTIONS:

 It should look at possible intervention/

strategies that can bring about positive
change at the systemic level.
 The system approach is mainly
associated with family therapy.
BACKGROUND, KEY CONCEPTS
AND ASSUMPTIONS:
 The basic assumption of family
therapy is that human misery or
dysfunctional behavior of
individual family members is often
a sign that something is wrong at
the systemic (family) level.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 The key therefore in changing the
individual is in understanding and
working with the family.
 The emphasis is on what goes on
between people rather than what
takes place inside them.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 According to this perspective,
dysfunctional behavior is passed
on to individuals across several
generations.
 For example, certain inappropriate
behavior, like abusive behavior,
may be passed on to children who
in turn pass it on to their children.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 The problem that a client (learner)
experience might therefore rather be
a symptom of how the family or
system functions and not just a
symptom of the individual’s
maladjustment, history or
psychological development.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 According to this approach or perspective
to counselling the problematic behavior of
the person are present because of the
following reasons: it may serve a purpose
for the family, the family cannot operate
productively especially during
developmental transitions and the
dysfunctional behavior was passed down
across generations.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Some changes in families or other
systems are predictable and others
are unpredictable.
 An example of a predictable
change in the family system is that
once children finish school they
will leave the house for further
studies or to find a job.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH

 Individuals in the family can predict

that this will happen, however it will
still affect others in the family.

 It may be that one of the younger

children, who are very attached to
this specific family member, may
become very distressed due to the
absence of this beloved sibling.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 It often happens that mothers, especially
those in nuclear families, develop
loneliness and worthlessness, once all
their children have grown up and left
the house.
 Other changes that take place in family
systems are unpredictable and often lead
to severe distress within the system.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Examples are divorce, early death,
serious illness including
HIV&AIDS, serious injury,
unemployment, moving to another
town or village , disaster such as a
house burnt down, etc.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH

 These situations often disrupt all

family members and bring about
several changes in the roles of
individual members and also in
relationships among members.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 For example, if the mother of the
family becomes very ill and is not
able to do her normal household
chores, other members of the
family have to take over her duties
and this will have an effect on the
way that they live.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 The changes in roles may be for a
short period of time but if the
mother remains ill for a long period
of time or even die, the changes
and disruption that it brings about
in the family system become
permanent and all family members
are affected.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Persons within the system may react
differently to these changes.
 Inter-relationships of the remaining
members may also change and some
that were close to one another may
drift apart or vice-versa.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Some may find it more difficult than
others to cope with the new situation
and may need some counselling.
 All members need to be involved in
the process of therapy in order to
bring about positive change.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Clearly the counsellor will only be
able to understand and assist with the
difficulties of a specific individual if
he/she also considers the situation
within the larger framework or
picture of the whole family and the
interlinks between members.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH

 In any family or other system, a

change in one part of the system
also affects other parts of the
system.
 This is a central principle to this
perspective.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH

 For this reason treatment of the

specific individual should also
comprehensively address all other
family members as well as the
larger context in which they
operate and not only the person
who was initially identified with
the problem.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 The family is an interactional unit
with its own unique characteristics.
 It is therefore not possible to assess
and treat an individual’s problems
without observing and assessing the
interaction and behavior of other
family members.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Actions by any individual in the family
will therefore affect all members again.
 Different schools or approaches of family
therapy developed over the years
 These are: structural family therapy, the
strategic approach, the Milan group.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 However, in recent years the division
between these major schools of
family therapy has gradually
dissolved and therapists started to
integrate different approaches within
their practices.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Through this integration new forms
of system-oriented therapies emerged
of which the most prominent ones
are: narrative therapy and
solution- focused model.
 The common ground of
contemporary family therapy can be
summarized as follows:
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Active participation of all or most of
the family members, to allow the
observation of patterns of behavior
and to allow change to be shared by
all members.
 THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH
 Interventions are aimed at changing
characteristics of the system rather than
at changing aspects regarding the
individual only.
 The therapist adopts a detached, neutral
stance to avoid being sucked in by the
system or seduced into forming an
alliance with a particular family member
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH

 Therapists often work as a team

to enable them to observe
accurately all subtle interaction
patterns that may occur in the
way that the family works
together.
THE SYSTEMIC APPROACH

 They make use of a limited

number of high-impact sessions
rather than an extended number
of gentler of more supportive
sessions
 TECHNIQUES
 Four of the most commonly used
techniques in family systems are:
 Genograms

 Rituals

 Family or group sculpting

 Circular question
 Genograms
 A genogram is similar to a family
tree of family history.
 Usually information about the
family is gathered over a period of
three generations.
 The family genogram consists of a
pictorial layout of each partner’s
three-generational extended family.
 Genograms
 There exists a set of symbols that
are used in genograms, for
example a man is represented by a
square and a woman by a circle.
 A close relationship is indicated by
a double line between individuals
and a conflictual relationship by a
jagged line.
 Genograms
 The genogram includes amongst
others, information about births,
deaths, marriages, divorces, cultural
and ethnical origins, religion, socio-
economic status, type of contact
among members and distance
between members.
 Genograms
 It is a tool for both family members
and therapist to detect and
understand critical turning points in
the family’s emotional processes
and also to understand each
partner’s relationship with other
members and the family as a whole.
 Genograms
 It is not only a method of gathering
information but also an
intervention technique because in
assisting to construct the genogram
members gain insight into their
roles and relationships within the
family.
 Rituals
 The family life cycle is marked by
a series of rituals such as
marriages, funerals, birthdays,
graduations etc.
 Simple family rituals such as meal
times can be employed to
understand family values,
relationships and expectations.
 Rituals
 Families can also devise their own
rituals to give meaning to those events
they consider of great importance.
 For example, parents can burn a
candle on their wedding anniversary
for their children to see that this is
considered as a very important event
in family life.
 Rituals
 A ritual can also be devised to
signify a transition period and to
make the transition easier for the
child.
 For example, a boy who must
throw away his bottle may receive
a “medal” to show that he is now a
“big boy”.
Family or group sculpting
 Family sculpting may be used to increase
members’ awareness of how they function
and how they are perceived by others in the
system.

 This is an exercise through which one family

member arranges the other members in the
family to represent the way in which he/she
sees the family.
Family or group sculpting
 The sculpting will include the
position of the member in the
family, their facial expressions and
posture, closeness and distance
from others and direction they look
in.
 Family or group sculpting
 All this conveys the sculpture’s
view of what the family is like.
 The therapist may invite the person
to re-sculpt the family to represent
the ideal family or how he would
see the family in future.
 Other members can also create
alternative sculpts.
 Circular question
 Another technique that can be used
is asking questions that are designed
to get clients to think about the role
they play in relating with other
members of their family.
 Circular question

 The assumption underlying the

questions is that everything causes and
is caused by everything else and
therefore the questions are called
circular questions.
 The focus of change is in relation to
others who are recognized as having
an effect on the person’s functioning.
 Circular question
 For example instead of asking a person
what he would do in a certain situation
one would ask what his brother would
do in a certain situation and how his
sister would react to this.
 Through this type of questioning the
links between people and the effect that
they have on one another may become
clear.
Implications for education( Teachers)
 The common theme running through
systemic therapy is that the counsellor
should move away from thinking in
terms of individual problems and
difficulties and begin to look at
problems from a systemic
perspective.
Implications for education( Teachers)

 The school is also a system and

several dysfunctional behaviors of
individuals may occur as a result of
how the interaction of different
persons on different levels in the
school is taking place.
 Implications for education( Teachers)

 Bullying, indiscipline, truancy,

reluctance to study and several other
school-related problems can often
only be assessed and action be taken
on a wider scale.
 ADVANTAGES

 Families are empowered and no

single person blamed for
dysfunctional behavior.
 Entirely different perspectives on
assessment and treatment since the
focus is on interactions taking place
within the systems and not on
individual actions.
 ADVANTAGES
 Many ethnical groups place higher
value on the needs of the extended
family and community than on
individual needs.
 ADVANTAGES

 Family rituals and celebrations that

mark transitions, protect against
outside interference and connect the
family to their past are considered
important aspects for understanding
behavior.
 LIMITATIONS

 If too much focus is placed on the

system the individual needs may
be overlooked.
 Care should be taken that the
values of some cultures are not
ignored and that the values of the
therapist is enforced on the
families.
 The End

End of Systemic Theory

Thank you