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Archive for vitalism

Where Da UK Macy Conferences?—A Brief Look at “Traditions of Systems Theory”

I just finished reading the edited volume entitled Traditions of Systems Theory—Major Figures and Contemporary Developments, edited by Darrell Arnold (2014). I’ll call this book Traditions for short. In its seventeen chapters, Traditions talks about system(s) thinking and theory past, present, and future. [1] This book is clearly aimed at scholars as evidenced by its […]

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Let’s Talk About “Changing Systems” Systematically (part I of II)

In my dual roles as psychotherapist (currently inactive) and philanthropist (currently active), I regularly attend workshops and conferences. As an example, the Association of Small Foundations recently wrapped up its annual meeting here in Albuquerque on October 3rd, 2013. (Our Foundation sponsored bringing in William Powers to speak as a part of our RYOL Lecture […]

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Why Vitalism? Freud … Asked and Answered

First, thanks to my blog readers for all the emails you have sent me in response to the BLT blog posts that I have written over the last many months. Now, if I could just get you to leave post comments as opposed to sending me emails (hint hint). I guess the blog format is […]

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Hold the Presses—Why Are We So Attached to the Vitalism of Bowlbian Attachment Theory?

In a series of posts that started back on December 9th, 2010, I’ve been looking at the following question: “Do mothers (therapists) really attach to their babies (clients)?” I’ve suggested that within a reductionistic worldview, the answer is probably “yes.” However, within a naturalistic systems theory worldview (the one that Bowlby principally used), the answer […]

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Why Does Attachment Theory Have Such Low Self-Esteem?

Q – Why don’t we have better theoretical and clinical models with which to understand and treat low self-esteem issues? A – Before I try to tackle this question, a bit of a history lesson is in order here. The clinical model already exists. It has existed for over 50 years now. And it’s not […]

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