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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Interactive typology in depression according to cognitive theory and systemic theory.

Both systemic and cognitive theories agree upon the importance of early learning in the development of depressive personality. The two theories disagree upon the meaning they give to the early experiences. According to cognitive theory the emotions bound to a significant and not reparable loss turn themselves into a pursuit of autonomy in order to prevent further grieves. In the grown-up person if autonomy is not reached or is lost, a depressive episode will rouse. According to the systemic theory, children learn emotions and behaviours of a depressed parent. The child also learns by himself or through the healthy parent the feeling of importance/inability to help. The grown-up person will make use of the depressed behaviour when he will feel unable to face by himself critical life events or to elice to care or attention by the partner.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Biochemical systems theory: operational differences among variant representations and their significance.

An appropriate language or formalism for the analysis of complex biochemical systems has been sought for several decades. The necessity for such a formalism results from the large number of interacting components in biochemical systems and the complex non-linear character of these interactions. The Power-Law Formalism, an example of such a language, underlies several recent attempts to develop an understanding of integrated biochemical systems. It is the simplest representation of integrated biochemical systems that has been shown to be consistent with well-known growth laws and allometric relationships--the most regular, quantitative features that have been observed among the systemic variables of complex biochemical systems. The Power-Law Formalism provides the basis for Biochemical Systems Theory, which includes several different strategies of representation. Among these, the synergistic-system (S-system) representation is the most useful, as judged by a variety of objective criteria. This paper first describes the predominant features of the S-system representation. It then presents detailed comparisons between the S-system representation and other variants within Biochemical Systems Theory. These comparisons are made on the basis of objective criteria that characterize the efficiency, power, clarity and scope of each representation. Two of the variants within Biochemical Systems Theory are intimately related to other approaches for analyzing biochemical systems, namely Metabolic Control Theory and Flux-Oriented Theory. It is hoped that the comparisons presented here will result in a deeper understanding of the relationships among these variants. Finally, some recent developments are described that demonstrate the potential for further growth of Biochemical Systems Theory and the underlying Power-Law Formalism on which it is based.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

The relationship between systems theory and community psychiatry.

General systems theory, when applied to human personality and behavior, considers the human system to be an active, open one in which personality develops through interaction with other systems; problems within one system can produce ripple effects in others. Community psychiatry sees the roots of most mental disorders as being in disturbances within the network of interacting systems. The author believes that community mental health centers, with their multifaceted approach to treatment and prevention, reflect the health profession's efforts to deal with the mental health problems of a community in a systems-oriented way. Although the CMHC movement has weaknesses, he feels they do not stem from the basic concepts behind the centers, but from the inadequate implementation of those concepts. He considers four major interfacing variables that are relevant in determining a center's capacity to survive and to function.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1977

A systems theory approach to a case of anorexia nervosa.

Systems theory views mental and psychosomatic illness as the natural consequences of a dysfunctional human interactional group. The symptom chosen is affected by the symptom carrier's age, sex, and unique individual characteristics. However, the reason the symptom develops and is maintained is to be found in the system(s) of which the symptom carrier is a part. A human system consist of two or more individuals who have an ongoing, often goal-directed, relationship with each other. The most important human system today is undoubtedly the family. The welfare of the individual is usually related to membership in a vital, well-adjusted family. A dysfunctional family easily becomes dependent on mental or behavioral deviations in one of its members as a means of preventing disintegration. We hope this article's description of a typical treatment situation will demonstrate how a systems theory approach differs from other forms of family therapy in its evaluations and techniques.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Toward social system theory: implications for older people with developmental disabilities and service delivery.

The literature refers to older people with developmental disabilities as the "new service population." How and why this population emerged as a special category is discussed conceptually with reference to social systems theory. A brief review of social systems theory and some basic systemic tenets are presented. Systemic tenets are employed in examining the historical development of social gerontology and present trends in the service-delivery system. I show that the systemic variable of the economic model of human development has significantly impacted on the making of older people with developmental disabilities a dependent population. In the conclusion the systems perspective is explored in relation to recognizing the liminal, in-between parts between components. It is argued that such a perception minimizes the dichotomy between older people with developmental disabilities and the non-disabled population, paving the way for a genuine encounter.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Cognitive-developmental systems theory in pervasive developmental disorders.

The concept of reality systems is introduced in context of cognitive-developmental systems theory. Examination of the parallels between the reality systems of normal infants and those of children with pervasive developmental disorders supports the view that the latter are stalled at an early stage of development. Evaluation of pervasively disordered children with closed-system and system-forming disorders indicates the aberrant manner in which such children orient toward and engage objects and events, a manner that precludes flexible adaptation to people or surroundings. Attention is given the role of interruption as it triggers a compensatory reaction to maintain systems and the contribution of such reactions in developing the intentional behavior so lacking in children with pervasive developmental disorders. Finally, the author discusses theory-driven strategies to correct deficits in the body schema, coping with surroundings, social development, and communication and representation.

Child↗
PubMed1990

On the accuracy and reliability of predictions by control-system theory.

In three experiments we used control-system theory (CST) to predict the results of tracking tasks on which people held a handle to keep a cursor even with a target on a computer screen. 10 people completed a total of 104 replications of the task. In each experiment, there were two conditions: in one, only the handle affected the position of the cursor; in the other, a random disturbance also affected the cursor. From a person's performance during Condition 1, we derived constants used in the CST model to predict the results of Condition 2. In two experiments, predictions occurred a few minutes before Condition 2; in one experiment, the delay was 1 yr. During a 1-min. experimental run, the positions of handle and cursor, produced by the person, were each sampled 1800 times, once every 1/30 sec. During a modeling run, the model predicted the positions of the handle and target for each of the 1800 intervals sampled in the experimental run. In 104 replications, the mean correlation between predicted and actual positions of the handle was .996; SD = .002.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[General systems theory, analog models and essential arterial hypertension].

The application of the General System Theory to the fields of biology and particularly of medicine is fraught with many difficulties deriving from the mathematical complexities of application. The authors suggest that these difficulties can be overcome by applying analogical models, thus opening new prospects for the resolution of the manifold problems involved in connection with the study of arterial hypertension.

Humans↗
PubMed1978

General systems theory: implications for theory and action in occupational therapy.

This paper presents a description of the transformation of science under General Systems Theory, and the relationship of this transformation to the field of occupational therapy. Changes in scientific methods of proof and in scientific laws that underlie theory are discussed. The paper presents a scale for recognizing complexity in phenomena and for analyzing the appropriateness of theories designed to explain the phenomena. It also presents the theory of open systems as an alternative to mechanistic explanations of human behavior.

Models, Theoretical↗
PubMed1992

Family functioning during a critical illness: a systems theory perspective.

In this article the effects of critical illness on family functioning are described within a systems theory framework. As identified in the literature, family vulnerabilities and strengths that impede or support family functioning during the time a member has a critical illness are discussed. Strategies that nurses can use to assist families of critically ill patients are explored. A challenge to expand family-centered care across various settings is extended.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1979

A systems-theory approach to the analysis of multiexponential fluorescence decay.

A mathematical model of the fluorescence decay experiment based on linear systems theory is presented. The model suggests an experimental technique that increases the probability of correctly determining the decay constants of a multicomponent system. The use of moment methods for data analysis improves accuracy by combining information obtained from several discrete experiments. Examples are presented to show that the analysis of a three component system composed of known standards is improved as the number of experimental determinations is increased from one to four. The discrete measurements are made by changing the excitation and emission wavelengths.

Carbazoles↗
PubMed1976

Shame and other anxieties associated with breast-feeding: a systems theory and psychodynamic approach.

It is easy to be over-simplistic about breast-feeding--what determines the choice of the breast; what causes rejection of breast-feeding as a feeding method; what determines success and what its failure? In fact, a bewildering range of factors, physical, psychological and sociological play a part. How can these be related to each other and ordered in general and for the individual? A general systems theory approach, in which the elements are envisaged as interacting dynamically, seems to offer a possible satisfactory explanatory model. Moving from social systems to the individual's intrapsychic system helps to understand the complexity of emotions aroused about the breast and breast-feeding. Shame and anxieties are seen to arise from the confluence of life history and current events. Intervention is necessary at many levels--societal, family and individual--if breast-feeding is to be re-established as the feeding method of first choice.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Alcoholism and systems theory: building a better mousetrap.

A considerable body of research evidence has accumulated in the alcoholism field with respect to when persons who overly rely on alcohol modify their behavior and seek alternate ways of dealing with life. It is the purpose of this paper to identify a number of these factors and relate them to a theoretical perspective that, while not new, is of relatively recent vintage for alcoholism specialists. That perspective is General Behavior Systems Theory (GBST), and it will be contended that its basic postulates comprise a framework that is especially congruent with the findings related to when alcohol-dependent persons change. As such, it provides a set of ideas which offer more fruitful guidelines for assessment and intervention than those resulting from exclusive reliance on other extant models (see Siegler et al., 1968; Miller and Barlow, 1973), in particular, the traditional and predominant illness conception.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1976

A neural systems theory of schizophrenia and tardive dyskinesia.

Some systems ideas applied to individual persons are used to try to explain symptoms of schizophrenia and a syndrome of uncontrolled fragments of movement which sometimes occurs as a side effect of chronic, antipsychotic drug therapy. The behavior of normal organisms may be conceptualized in three echelons of control, with each successively higher echelon organizing, by selective disinhibition, semiautonomous, spontaneous fragments of activity which comprise the next lower echelon. It is hypothesized that schizophrenia involves a deficiency of inhibition by the frontal cortex, first echelon, on the corpus striatum, second echelon. This results first in insufficiently integrated fragments of behavior, and second in premature associative linkages among active elements. First echelon control develops as a normal person matures and gradually loses some of the playful activities of childhood. It is hypothesized that by disrupting certain aspects of activity in the corpus striatum, neuroleptic drugs reduce schizophrenic symptoms but also reduce the capacity of the second echelon to inhibit and integrate the smaller behavioral fragments wired into lower parts of the brain, third echelon. This results in uncontrolled movements. Though many researchers already favor the hypothesis that neuroleptic drugs act on the corpus striatum, the broader theory presented here is new and depends in large part on general living systems considerations. Emphasis is on conceptual decomposition of the integrated behavior of a whole organism into less complex subsystems. Individually, these have neither too much nor too little complexity to yield a plausible model. Some experimental predictions and predictions about possible therapies are made from the theory.

Corpus Striatum↗
PubMed1991

Rethinking levels of abstraction in family systems theories.

This article is an attempt to improve the way we conceptualize "levels" in family systems. The first section reframes thinking about levels by identifying an array of different ways of thinking about levels. The next section suggests a parsimonious frame-work for thinking about levels of abstraction in systemic processes. The proposed framework integrates several earlier ways of conceptualizing levels, and helps eliminate some of the confusion, inconsistencies, fragmentation, and limitations of some earlier models. The new framework has three categories that are called Levels I, II, and III. The most abstract level (III) includes phenomena such as family paradigms and values. The intermediate level includes processes such as second-order change, regime, and "meta" processes such as metacommunication and meta-rules. The least abstract level refers to specific processes such as transformation processes and rules. The article concludes with an attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed framework by showing how it can be used to eliminate a number of conceptual problems in earlier models, improve conceptual clarity, help generate new theoretical insights, and help deal with several controversies in the field.

Adaptation, Psychological↗