Systems-Centered Therapy for Groups

by Yvonne M. Agazarian

Systems-Centered Therapy (SCT) is an innovative approach to psychotherapy that synthesizes a finely tuned awareness of the defensive role of anxiety, depression, and other common presenting problems with a groundbreaking analysis of the phases of group development. This seminal volume from SCT originator Yvonne M. Agazarian introduces the author's theory of living human systems and explicitly maps out its operationalization in a structured treatment model applicable to work with any population. Shifting the central focus of the therapy group from self to system, the book explicates essential new methods, such as functional subgrouping and boundarying, and shows how active intervention in the group process can direct the energy of members toward the goals of therapy. Extensive illustrative dialogues elucidate the ways that the SCT approach both frees groups from unproductive patterns and helps members achieve a more authentic, integrated experience of the here-and-now.

Genres: Psychology

328 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 1997

About the author

Yvonne M. Agazarian was the principal architect of systems-centered therapy, based on a theory of Living Human Systems that she also developed.

Reviews

[Scott Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a quick read (I started in January and finished the beginning of March). My work with SAVI (System Analysis of Verbal Interaction), which was developed by Agazarian and Anita Simon, brought me to this book. Agazarian's focus here is on group development as a way of understanding the defensive self, how to modify defenses that are ever-present within the self during group interaction, and how to locate the spontaneous self that operates in the here-and-now and not in the interpreted past or the fantasy of the future. Very intensive, and very personal. While insightful from an organizational development perspective, this work is geared toward therapeutic work with individuals in a group setting.