The Systems Metaphor in Therapy Discourse: Introducing Systems Intelligence

Following the relational turn in psychoanalytic theorizing, the systems metaphor has increasingly become a part of the therapeutic vocabulary. This has led to a view of therapy as an ongoing process in which the mutual interplay between the analyst and the patient cocreates a systemic higher level dimension that is based on bidirectional and jointly coordinated, simultaneous forms of interaction that influence the mental processes and regulatory patterns of both of the participants thus creating possibilities for creative therapeutic interventions. However, the objectivistic overtones of the systems metaphor can lead to reifying interpretations of the therapeutic encounter and to a failure to acknowledge its intrinsically subtle context-bound nuances and often idiosyncratic possibilities. This pitfall is avoided by introducing into therapeutic discourse the concept of systems intelligence, which integrates systems thinking with subjectivistic and intersubjectivistic parameters. By emphasizing the analyst's embeddedness within the systemic wholeness of the therapeutic situation and her sensibilities-based abilities to act intelligently in it, systems intelligence provides a humanly tuned meta-understanding for the systemic aspects of the therapist in action.

Analytic therapists tolerate uncertainty, find meaning in apparently disordered communication, and embrace the unexpected twists and turns that emerge from intimate attention to the ordinary complexities of everyday life. These are hallmarks of a psychoanalytic sensibility that spans various theoretical persuasions. Non-linear dynamic systems embodies the same sensibilities: It emphasizes such descriptions as pattern, complexity, flux and flow, the interplay of ambiguity and order, stability and instability, and the natural value of uncertainty and generative chaos. — Seligman (2005, p. 285)