What is systemic therapy?

Systemic therapy is a kind a psychotherapy that focuses on the relations between people.

This kind of therapy has proved to be effective with low mood symptoms (depression), with anxiety symptoms and in dealing with loss or mourning and trauma related symptoms.

The starting point of the theory behind systemic therapy is that a problem is not just related to a single person, but part of the context and the person’s social network. The therapist looks at individual problems from a systemic context and tries to find out what is the role of the client in what is happening and what role is played by others in the social network.

Relationship therapy and family therapy are the best known kinds of systemic therapy. Parent counselling/coaching, individual systemic therapy or systemic therapy in a group are other possible forms.

When to choose systemic therapy?

If there is a connection between the symptoms/problems and the interaction between people in a social network, systemic therapy (relationship/family therapy) may be the right treatment. It is about problems in relationships: between partners, between one or both parents and their child or children, between parent-in-law and children-in-law, between colleagues in a team, between employer and employee, etc.

System therapy can also be used as a complement to another form of therapy. For instance, in addition to individual therapy, sessions with important others from the client’s social network can be organised. In many cases they are family members, but they can also be grand parents, teachers and any others who could contribute to a solution to the problems.

What happens during systemic therapy?

After the intake session I will investigate with you what the problems or symptoms are and what role you and others in your social network play in creating and maintaining these roles. As a next step we will make a plan that focuses on reducing or solving the symptoms or on learning to deal with them in other ways. Sometimes we will look at your social network and see who could be asked to contribute to a change (e.g. a one or more family members, your employer, your teacher, your mother-in-law).

The therapy focuses not just on problems, but also on your own resilience and capabilities to solve the problems by yourself. The main aim is to create an awareness in you and in other participants of your own role and the role others play in creating the problem and keeping it in existence, and to make everyone learn to behave and interrelate in other ways.

What is the duration of the therapy?

A session usually lasts one or one and a quarter hour. Duration and frequency vary depending on the problem situation. Sometimes, 2 to 5 sessions suffice, sometimes more are required. We can decide upon that after the first session.