Non-Equilibrium, Chance and Change in Family Therapy

The model of the systemic approach that we commonly use in family therapy is mainly an homeostatic model insisting essentially on negative feedback and allowing little room for amplification phenomena and for abrupt changes that may occur. Our approach, called “systemic,” is related principally to models applying in cases of processes occurring at thermodynamic equilibrium or at stationary states close to equilibrium. In those instances, stability is maintained no matter what external or internal perturbations are exerted on the system. But our practice shows that a modification limited to one part of the family system extends quickly to the whole system. How are those changes brought about? How is an open system, such as the family in which feedback loops exist, pulled away from a stationary state? It was partly to answer such questions that we started to give attention to organizational forms likely to appear away from thermodynamic equilibrium and particularly to the work done in this field by the team ofllya Prigogine. Starting with a few examples of “dissipative structures” some concepts will be introduced which seem likely to be fruitful in our field.