Skip to main content
  • Textbook
  • © 2020

Long Term Systemic Therapy

Individuals, Couples and Families

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Provides the first exploration of systemic therapy as long term practice
  • Features internationally renowned contributors with extensive experience as practitioners and researchers
  • Appeals to professionals and researchers in the field of ‘systemic family therapy’

Part of the book series: Palgrave Texts in Counselling and Psychotherapy (PTCP)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
  2. Long Term Systemic Work with Individuals

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-41
    2. Olena’s Battle for Utopia

      • Chip Chimera
      Pages 43-68
    3. And It Takes as Long as It Takes

      • Ros Draper
      Pages 69-95
  3. Long Term Systemic Work with Professional Practitioner Groups

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 119-119
    2. Ministering Reflectively: A Story of Two Groups

      • Paddy Sweeney, Martin Daly
      Pages 159-178
  4. Long Term Systemic Work with Family Businesses

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 179-179
    2. Families in Business—The Longer Term Perspective

      • Ana Aguirregabiria
      Pages 181-196
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 197-209

About this book

Systemic psychotherapy has long been conceptualised and practiced as brief psychotherapy, in both the public sector and in independent practice, but it is now increasingly becoming a longer term practice. 

This ground-breaking book examines the ways in which systemic theory can accommodate and formulate long term practice, and locates the boundaries of the systemic theories that both help to explain and give direction to such work. In doing so, it asks important questions such as: at what point might a practitioner need to incorporate and integrate other explanatory models into their systemic thinking? What does this mean for systemic practice? How does the relative longevity of the work impact the way practitioners build and maintain therapeutic relationships with the relational systems they assist? And what implications does such longevity have on, and for, the supervisory needs of systemic psychotherapists at the heart of the work? Given the absence of a rigorous evidence base for long term systemic therapy and practice, this book explores how practitioners can hold themselves ethically accountable for what they do and think.

Written by some of the leading names in systemic thinking, this book provides an important new resource for both students and experienced professionals in family therapy seeking to enhance their practice and research.



Reviews

“Although the iThrive model (Wolpert et al., 2015) has redressed the balance somewhat by suggesting a service framework for UK Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services that include very short, brief, medium and long-term therapeutic interventions, there has been a startling lack of focus in the therapeutic literature on long-term work, in recent years. … This is an enjoyable, highly relevant and timely addition to the literature, and addresses an important and much neglected aspect of systemic practice and consultation.” (Percy Aggett, Journal of Family Therapy, August 16, 2020)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Family Therapy and Systemic Practice, VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway

    Arlene Vetere, Jim Sheehan

About the editors

Arlene Vetere is Professor of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice at VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway. Her previous books includeSupervision in Family Therapy and Systemic Practice (2017) co-edited with Jim Sheehan, and together with Rudi Dallos she co-edits thePalgrave Texts in Psychotherapy and Counselling book series.


Jim Sheehan is Professor of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice at the VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Ireland. He is a social worker, family therapist, trainer, consultant and systemic supervisor. His previous publications include Supervision of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice (2017) co-edited with Arlene Vetere, andFamily Conflict After Separation and Divorce (2018) published by Palgrave.




Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access