Contemporary clinical family therapy theory is founded upon an interactional model in which individuals are deemphasized in favor of higherorder social patterns. This paradigm, often labeled “general systems theory,” has been adopted from the physical and biological sciences and applied to an understanding of family interaction (Von Bertalanfy, 1969; Bateson, 1972).

Family systems theory and self-disclosure

From the perspective of systems theory, the family is perceived as a holistic organismic unit rather than a set of individuals (Nichols, 1984; Searight & Openlander, 1986). The interdependent elements interact in a circular rather than a linear manner (Nichols, 1984). These patterns of interaction within a system are oriented toward maintaining the homeostasis or stability of the family. Negative feedback loops are the primary mechanism for self-regulation through reduction of the effect of any change-oriented process (Jackson, 1957). This is often an adaptive process but may be maladaptive when the family's homeostasis includes a dysfunctional child or adolescent. Thus, while a symptomatic child represents systems-wide distress, the dysfunctional child simultaneously serves to maintain a particular pattern of family organization – for example, an overinvolved mother and an emotionally distant father. Positive feedback, in contrast, amplifies certain family patterns past the equilibrium point such that the family becomes reorganized (Hoffman, 1981). The goal of family therapy is to enact a positive feedback process that results in the family functioning without a symptomatic member (Hoffman, 1981).