Criticisms, myths and parodies

Abstract

Even if psychodynamic and systemic approaches can be linked coherently and applied fruitfully in combination, what is the relevance of this for social work? Many social workers question the usefulness of anything to do with psychotherapy in their work and, whilst there is a growing acceptance of family therapy techniques among social workers in a variety of agencies (Treacher and Carpenter, 1984; Burnham, 1986), many are deterred by the jargon in which it couches itself and the clinical settings in which it habitually operates. Both approaches, therefore, have appeared to be precious activities with little relevance to social work.