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PARADOX AND ORTHODOX: FOLIE À DEUX? *
Author(s) -
Fraser J. Scott
Publication year - 1984
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.1752-0606.1984.tb00577.x
Subject(s) - contradiction , action (physics) , set (abstract data type) , family therapy , face (sociological concept) , psychology , social psychology , psychotherapist , psychoanalysis , epistemology , sociology , philosophy , computer science , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
In the recent family therapy literature, therapists have been cautioned to use paradoxical looking techniques as either a last resort, or else not to use such actions at all with specific problems. The paper argues that these stances arise from a rigid adherence to a set of orthodox views from which these actions appear contradictory. Similar to family systems, when such orthodox therapy systems do not question or alter their own premises in the face of contradiction, they tend to attribute either badness or madness to the action and either try to exorcise the badness, or banish the action. The literature which either prescribes “paradox as a last resort,” or which proscribes it altogether is reviewed and critiqued. Walter Buckley's process/adaptive system model is recommended as a positive alternative view from which such previously pardoxical actions may often be elected as a logical and effective first choice.