Systemic therapy: between the chairs

Abstract

Systemic Therapy has achieved a position ofa successful misfit in the German psychotherapy field - still without getting access to the psychotherapeutic supply system as an approved treatment approach. This paper shows a certain ambivalence between conceptual openness („brokerage“) and organisational „closure“ which underlied the political organisation of systemic interests. This ambivalence can be found in the history ofthe systemic field as well, which can be described as the history of a movement rather than of a specific therapeutic school. The exciting question dominating the current systemic discourse in Germany is whether the identity ofthe systemic approach can be maintained if it is confronted with the consequences of it’s possible approval, or ifthe position as an outsider could be constitutive for the systemic approach.

Key words Systemic therapy, therapy school, therapy movement, therapy orientation, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy law, profession, power, politics