Therapeutic Relationship in Systemic Therapy

Carmel Flaskas is a social worker and family therapist, and Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of New South Wales, Sydney, where she convenes the Master of Couple and Family Therapy program. She has published a number of books and articles on the therapeutic relationship, on psychoanalytic ideas in the systemic context, and on knowledge in family therapy. In 2006, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Tavistock Clinic in conjunction with the University of East London for her contributions to systemic psychotherapy, and in 2005 she received the ANZJFT award for Distinguished Contributions to Australian Family Therapy

'Anyone following the recent developments of systemic thinking will be aware that activity has not been restricted to Europe and America. Systemic therapists and writers from both Australia and New Zealand are now making a major impact on the field, particularly in the way they explore therapy as an exchange between "real" people; with gender and with ethical values; and embedded within specific cultural experiences. These people are challenging the traditional way we see clients and the context of therapy. Over the years, systemic therapists have theorized extensively about the client family as a system and have more recently addressed the use of self in therapy, but there has been very little attention paid to the therapeutic relationship between the two.'Flaskas and Perlesz recognized this gap in the field, and they have assembled here a collection of papers that all focus on this central theme.'- David Campbell and Ros Draper, Series Editors'I welcome the Editors' initiative in bringing the issue of the therapeutic relationship in family systems therapy into focus. The therapeutic relationship was given no attention at the inception of family systems therapy and has remained its Cinderella since. This neglect has to be seen in the wider historical context in which systems-based therapy had its beginnings, and in the more immediate context of its own short history.'- From the Foreword by Eleanor S. Wertheim

• Editors’ Foreword -- Foreword -- Introduction -- New Explorations—Mainly Theory -- Leaving well alone: a systemic perspective on the therapeutic relationship -- Understanding the therapeutic relationship: using psychoanalytic ideas in the systemic context -- Empathy and the therapeutic relationship in systemic-oriented therapies: a historical and clinical overview -- Embedded and embodied in the therapeutic relationship: understanding the therapist’s use of self systemically -- To embrace paradox (once more, with feeling): a commentary on narrative/conversational therapies and the therapeutic relationship -- Discussion Paper I -- New Explorations—Mainly Practice -- The therapeutic moment: a double-sided drama -- A systemic therapy unravelled: in through the out door -- From both sides now: the therapeutic relationship from the viewpoint of therapist and client -- Cross-purposes: relationship patterns in public welfare -- Personal relationships in systemic supervision -- Discussion Paper II