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ORGANIZATION OF EXPERIENCE AMONG FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE IMMEDIATE PRESENT: A GESTALT/SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
Author(s) -
Kaplan Marvin L.,
Kaplan Netta R.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1982.tb01416.x
Subject(s) - gestalt psychology , gestalt therapy , family therapy , psychology , experiential learning , family systems , systems thinking , psychotherapist , cognitive science , cognitive psychology , social psychology , epistemology , developmental psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , perception , neuroscience , mathematics education , philosophy
How processes of family functioning are conceptualized influences a therapist's understanding and use of immediate experiential phenomena in the therapy setting. This article outlines two basic formulations that generate different conceptual perspectives of immediate phenomena. One recognizes that the family system has a time‐enduring stability, while the second postulates that the family system has an immediate and temporary organization. The latter position is developed as an appropriate and useful application of systems thinking. Integrating systems thinking and Gestalt Therapy provides a framework for this application, one that recognizes individual experience as organized and as embedded in a mutual causal, self‐maintaining system of the whole. The nature of such wholes, how they maintain their stability, their potential for change, and implications for therapy are described.