CHAPTER 4: STRATEGIC AND SYSTEMIC MODELS

Study Guide for the National Marriage and Family National Licensing Exam 92 Selvini Palazzoli, M., Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G., & Prata, G. (1980). Hypothesizing— circularity—neutrality: Three guidelines for the conductor of the session. Family Process, 19 (1), 3-12 . This article outlines the three principles—hypothesizing, circularity, and neutrality— developed by the Milan group for conducting therapy. The information that is known about a family prior to the first meeting forms the basis for an initial hypothesis about the family process: names, ages, jobs, education, referral source, reported problem, and the like. According to Selvini Palazzoli, the hypothesis is an unproved supposition tentatively accepted to provide a basis for further investigation (p. 5) based upon the information [the therapist] possesses regarding the family….The hypothesis establishes a starting point for his [or her] investigation as well as his [or her] verification for the validity of this hypothesis based upon specific methods and skills. If the hypothesis is proven false, the therapist must form a second hypothesis based upon the information gathered during the testing of the first (p. 4). The hypothesis, then, helps the therapist decide what he/she might particularly attend to in the first session and leads to uncovering essential information. It may be that the data gathered in the first session rules out the initial hypothesis completely and that the new information forms the basis for an alternative hypothesis. Making hypotheses requires that therapists take account of all observations and organize them into a meaningful construct . Thus, the action regarding hypothesis building is experimental. New information leads to confirmation or rejection of the working hypothesis followed by the formulation of refined or altogether new hypotheses. The value of a hypothesis is not tied to whether or not it is true or false, but whether it is more useful or less useful as a guide to furnishing the therapist and family with new information. The hypothesis functions as a discipline to the treatment and a guide to gathering new information. It helps the therapist track the interactional patterns. Working through a hypothesis keeps the therapy from falling into disorder and muddle. Systematic, active hypothesis testing helps counte r entropy . Entropy in a system refers to “the disorder, disorganization, lack of patterning, or randomness, [and a] decrease in entropy can be taken as a measure of the amount of information” (p. 6). Circularity , to Selvini Palazzoli, refers to “the capacity of the therapist to conduct his [or her] investigation on the basis of feedback from the family in response to the information he [or she] solicits about relationships and, therefore, about difference and change” (p. 8). The Milan team defines circularity as the ability to obtain authentic information from the family. Using a construct from Bateson—“that all knowledge of external events is derived from the relationship between them” (p. 8)—suggests that in order for the therapist to obtain authentic information, every member of the system must describe his or her view of the relationship between other dyads of the system. For example, a wife would be asked how she sees the relationship between her husband and their son.