"Relationship is surely the mirror in which you discover yourself." -Krishnamurti

 

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What is Couple's and Systemic Therapy?

We believe that everyone exists in a system, whether it is family, a relationship, culture, religion, work, school … a system is simply a community or network in which you act on and are affected by.


Systemic therapy exists in many different forms, but all seek to bring about 3 major shifts in the system:

  1. shift perspective from individual to systems (e.g. couple, family, etc.) dynamics

  2. shift from linear to circular causality (e.g. a causes b causes a causes b cause ...)

  3. separate content and process (i.e. content is the details, process is a level deeper and explains what is going on in the relationships)

• So, in shifting one's perspective to systems dynamics, the client(s) may look at rules, roles and boundaries in the relationship and through therapy make changes where needed.

• Another way to look at circular causality is moving away from blaming the other person to accepting the responsibility each person shares in the problem.

• What is content and process? Content is the details of a situation that people get caught up in. Content isn't really resolvable because the undercurrent – the process – in the relationship doesn't change unless you actually focus the work on that.

Couple's therapy builds on systemic therapy by working with the partners in the room. Therapy progresses by working with the individuals and the interactions within the relationship. At times, individual work may happen, too. Consider the interaction as the multiplier. It has the ability to make a situation worse when the couple doesn't understand each other and can make a situation better when when there is understanding and caring. This is where the focus of therapy lies.

It starts by looking at the family dynamics/history of each partner to look for repeating patterns to help everyone understand the genesis of the individual issues that are being. Depending on the issues at hand, therapy can work in many different ways, but requires that each person is comfortable with the goals and direction of therapy. The direction of therapy is set by the clients and can change over time as the couple sees fit and perhaps with some prodding from the therapist as he or she develops a professional relationship with the client.
                 Contact                  

Danielle Massi 
215.995.0176     DMassi@WellnessPHL.com

Brian Swope
215.995.5059
     Brian.Swope@PhiladelphiaMFT.com

Alanna Gardner
267.908.4369
   AlannaGardner@PhiladelphiaMFT.com

Malyka Cardwell
267.908.4368
MCardwell@PhiladelphiaMFT.com

                 Location                

100 S Broad Street
Suite 622
Philadelphia, PA 19110
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