SYSTEMICS™ THE SHORT FAMILY DIAGRAM
Psychiatrists had supported the U.S. armed forces with diagnoses and treatment methods during World War 2. Shortly thereafter, Gregory Bateson, Virginia Satir and Paul Watzlawick had questioned this phenomenological collection of diagnoses with literary references (cf. “Narcissus” and “Narcissism”) and pointed out that illnesses also result from the environment, i.e. from the system in which the patients find themselves. “Systemic Psychology” was born.
At the same time, Abraham Maslow’s “Positive Psychology” came about, which was taken up again 40 years later by Martin Seligman.
Accordingly, the “Systemicists” (quickly dubbed “Family Therapists” because they concentrated on the familial systems) recorded the family environment with a “multigenerational family diagram”. This procedure proved to be as confusing for patients/ clients as other analyses. SYSTEMICS™ therefore developed the Short Family Diagram in the 1990s. Here, the elementary learning phase of social skills is recorded in such a manageable way that the individual diagram can and will be easily recalled again and again – thus serving as an orientation for one’s feelings, thoughts and actions. No longer does anyone think that he/she is “crazy”.
This instrument has become a central part of all SYSTEMICS™ procedures and is therefore taught separately.