1988/12/01 by HARLENE ANDERSON, Harlene Anderson, HAROLD A. GOOLISHIAN +1 · 2 citations
Psychology · #Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics #Educational and Psychological Assessments #Families in Therapy and Culture
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.1988.00371.x
crossref issued 1988/12/01 · crossref published 1988/12/01 · crossref published-print 1988/12/01 · openalex publication_date 1988/12/01 · crossref published-online 2004/08/03 · crossref created 2004/08/04 · crossref deposited 2023/10/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
From our earliest practice of family therapy at medical schools, private family therapy institutes, and public agencies, our work with difficult populations that do not respond to current treatment technologies has reminded us of the inadequacies of our theoretical descriptions and the limitations of our expertise. This work has influenced our current, evolving clinical theory as we move from thinking of human systems as social systems defined by social organization (role and structure) to thinking of them as distinguished on the basis of linguistic and communicative markers. Hence, for us, the social unit we work with in therapy is a linguistic system distinguished by those who are "in language" about a problem, rather than by arbitrary and predetermined concepts of social organization. We call the therapy system a problem-organizing, problem-dis-solving system.