In the aftermath of EFTA’s conference in Lyon, whose initial lectures at least delved extensively on therapeutic matters touching upon politics and the role of systemic therapists in the present condition, where politics invades therapy, this issue begins with a sensitive poem by Dimitris Kokkalis. On the occasion of the Gaza genocide, the author wonders about the face of humanism today, which is reflected in the gaze of the people who oppose the raw destructiveness and resembles the soft caress of the sun.
We continue in the same vein, with the manifesto on PEACE, JUSTICE and RESPONSIBILITY concerning ten very important issues, that is signed by systemic therapists from many European countries.
The next paper by K. Theodoraki and K. Batsalias, which was also presented in the EFTA conference, connects Bowen’s concept of differentiation to the active differentiated citizen as we see him in Aristophanes’ “The Acharnians” undertaking the responsibility of his desire for peace, as the institutions of Ancient Greece allowed this (unlike today). In the modern Western world (and beyond), the citizens are outside the political system, not participating in the political decision-making. In the same paper, it is postulated that systemic therapists may lead the way, as we know, through the second and third order cybernetics, that the families themselves, as well as the wider systems, are better suited to decide on matters that concern them; likewise, societies are too. This way, they take an equal and cooperative position as the family, while the position of politicians resembles the first order cybernetics.
Nikos Marketos, in his interesting paper, turns his observation lens inwards in order to explore the fine lines during hard times, when the therapist is overwhelmed by difficult emotions and becomes disconnected from therapy. The main question that this paper attempts to answer is: how can connection in therapy be retained when the therapist is intensely emotionally overloaded?
Frisine, in her paper, discusses the issue of addictions and utilises the genogram in order to help addicted individuals place themselves inside their story that has been overtaken by the substance, so that they can reclaim it. Thus, the symptom that is placed inside its relational frame regains its meaning.
In her interesting paper, Gloriana Rangone, refers to the therapy of delinquent adolescents and the way in which this is implemented, through specific clinical cases, in a multidimensional fashion that needs to combine flexibility on the therapist’s part, as well as strictness when necessary. It is also very important that therapy includes all the different settings that the adolescent is a part of.
In his paper “From Institution to Community: theoretical and practical revisions of the concept of crisis in Trieste’s Paradigm”, Lykourgos Karatzaferis gives an extensive description of the reasoning, the theoretical and practical background of the significant attempt to manage the crisis in Italy, and the subsequent deistitutionalisation that occurred in Italy, France, and the United Kingdom after 1970, as well as the restriction of the model’s application in the following decades. Finally, there is reference to the Greek example and the existing services, so that we may have a complete picture of the problems, the needs and the changes that will be necessary.
In the last paper, Ioannis Sigalas and Dionysios Sakkas take us to the interesting world of training supervisors and consultants. They describe how experienced therapists need further training in order to become supervisors, and the manner in which the relevant training programme of the AIA was structured, on the principles of Dialectical – Systemic Epistemology.
In the book review of R. A. Cobb’s (2024) “The Therapist’s Notebook for Systemic Teletherapy: Creative Interventions for Effective Online Therapy” by Ezra N. S. Lockhart, the author explains how Rebecca A. Cobb does not provide ready-made answers in her book, but rather invites the reader to ask better questions. It is a source that questions the notion that teletherapy is a mere compromise and reframes it as a complex ecology with rich possibilities. The book explores practical and moral issues, respecting the therapist’s role as both the creator and participant of the therapeutic process.
On behalf of the Editorial Board,
Katerina Theodoraki
