The Paths Not Taken: The Use of Cybernetic Explanation to Describe the Process of a First Interview

Ideally, therapeutic practice and the underpinning theories which guide our activity are closely linked, yet in everyday work it is sometimes difficult to directly connect one to the other. The following transcript and commentary aim to closely align the systemic, cybernetic ideas drawn from the work of Gregory Bateson with the practical activity of the therapist. It draws on ideas of therapeutic system, negative explanation and restraint to provide a micro‐analysis of a segment of an interview with a woman and her two children who have shared horrific experiences.