Social relationships are so important in the life of each person that the environment influences and impacts our emotional well-being. Pressured families, toxic partners, dangerous friendships or a hostile work environment are often the basis of an anxiety disorder or even depression. And the truth is that the environment does not move, so the only thing we can do is face the problem from a new perspective and with different tools. And here Systemic Therapy makes an appearance, a therapy that focuses more on finding solutions and not so much on the causes. In this article we tell you what it consists of. 
What is Systemic Therapy
- How many of the emotional disorders are framed in our relationships? The truth is that suffering from depression or anxiety is not something as individual as we think, since we are social beings and the environment influences and impacts our emotional well-being. Family conflicts, children with dysfunctional behaviors, marital crises, toxic friends that take advantage of you or co-workers who help you suffer burnout syndrome are some of the most frequent causes of emotional disorders.
- As you can see, we are not alone in matters of mental health and what is new in Systemic Therapy is that it understands the disorder to be treated from a broader, relational perspective. What role does your family play in these moments of life? How does your relationship influence your emotional state? Do your coworkers keep you up at night? Can’t you redirect your children’s behavior? Well, there is Systemic Therapy to transform relational styles and communication patterns.
- The objective of Systemic Therapy is the change in the processes of communication and social interaction and, for that, it is necessary to understand the context of the system of which we are a part. For this reason, this therapy does not focus on the individual, but on the entire environment of her. And that is why it applies to families, couples, work teams or school groups.
The system, the key to Systemic Therapy
- But let’s go in parts. The absolute protagonist of Systemic Therapy is the system, essential to understand what this psychological intervention is about. Because there are different approaches to this therapy, such as Systemic Family Therapy or Brief Systemic Therapy, for example, but all of them focus on the system. And what is this system?
- Understanding the system is realizing that the whole, in this case, is more important than the parts. In a kind of butterfly effect, a change in one element of the system will cause changes in the rest of the elements. And we can understand a family system, a work system, a couple system or a relationship system in general.
- The system, in short, is a set of elements that are related to each other. And that implies an interaction between the elements or parts. Systemic Therapy is based on the General Systems Theory, proposed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1968 and soon became the most widely used therapy for the family.
Systemic Family Therapy
- Systemic Family Therapy is the best known because of all the systems in which we relate throughout our lives, the main one is precisely the family. Our behavior is based on what surrounds us, on the family role we play, for example, and understanding how we function within the system can help us identify and transform those dysfunctional behaviors that have led us to suffer an emotional disorder.
- Each person within the family system knows what their position implies, the functions and the role they play. If toxic or dysfunctional behaviors develop, the rules by which the system has been related up to that point will have to be changed. And how can any relationship be transformed? We focus our attention on communication.
Communication in Systemic Therapy
- Communication, so simple and so complicated at the same time, is a central axis of Systemic Therapy and surprises us with ideas as interesting as that any behavior is a way of communicating. They don’t just speak the words, right? We are communicating all the time and even the symptoms of the disorder in question are a form of communication.
- But of course, in Systemic Therapy what matters is the relationship with other people in the environment and conflicts arise when we do not understand the other’s way of communication, when we communicate differently. And, therefore, our way of communicating is also part of our behavior. Here what is sought is the balance within the system, that all the elements of the system understand and understand each other in order to thus be able to resolve conflicts.
Problem solving in Systemic Therapy
- Because as we have said before, what matters here is finding solutions to the problem. Whether it is a wayward child with behavioral problems, a teenager with eating disorders, an adult with addictions, illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression or an anxiety disorder.
- The structures of each system can be modified. In fact, they must be modified when it is observed that these structures are harming one of the elements of the system, which in the case of other therapies would be the only one on which psychological intervention is made. Once the way of relating to the system is known, it becomes evident that the behavior that has been followed up to now is not valid.
- It is clearly observed in the family environment that the solutions that have already been tried not only do not solve the problem but very often become part of the problem. And it is not a question of cutting to the chase, but of breaking the schemes established by all the members of the system, something that will only be achieved if everyone participates in the therapy.
- Finding new ways to communicate is finding new ways to relate and that is what Systemic Therapy proposes. It also proposes paying less attention to the past, since the relational past is evidently failing to focus on the present and the future. How are we relating right now? It is evident that it does not work, since otherwise we would not be looking for a help therapy.
- It is time to change the way we relate or what in Systemic Therapy is called relational pattern. But we are not going to do it alone. The professional will be in charge of finding relational failures in the system, be it family, partner, work or school and seek communication alternatives, behavior that are healthy for the entire environment.
- What differentiates Systemic Therapy from other types of psychological therapies is that it is, or at least tries to be, more practical and less analytical. What is the use of analyzing the problem a thousand times if what we need is a solution as soon as possible? From this urgency, Brief Systemic Therapy was born, with excellent results as long as the entire system, that is, the entire environment of the patient, is fully involved in the therapy.