A brief review of systems theory provides a rationale for an underlying theoretical model within which systems theory can be more completely understood. The essence of the model is that persons are the major unit of study because the available means of satisfying "basic needs" define and shape interaction patterns in the family as in other human…

This paper outlines a family systems model for treating incestuous families and discusses strategies for working effectively with families who remain intact after disclosure or who attempt to reunite after a separation. This systems model suggests that incest results not from intrapsychic problems of the victim or the offender, but from a pattern…

Proposes that therapeutic intervention doesn't have the power to create durable, predetermined changes in human systems. Suggests the family's basic rules prohibit it from changing. Discusses a preferable goal of validating the family's present functioning through an understanding of different levels of its self-perception (phenomenological model,…