Autobiography of a Theory

Systems-centred practice and its theory are one of the most important developments in group psychology in the last forty years. In this book Yvonne Agazarian traces the evolution of her ideas and their application to create a meta-theory, the theory of living human systems.
Autobiography of a Theory follows Agazarian as she thinks her way through different stages, creating a theoretical background for SAVI (System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction), which she developed with Anita Simon, developing a theory of the Invisible Group for the book she wrote with Richard Peters and expanding on existing group dynamics theories. With members of the General Systems Committee of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, she joined the challenge of formulating a systems theory for group and arrived at her theory of living human systems from which she derived the methods and techniques of systems-centred therapy for groups and individuals. This fascinating account of her professional life not only documents major developments in group analysis, but also shows how a theory is formulated from intellectual and personal contexts, and how a theory-based practice is generated.

Yvonne M. Agazarian, EdD, is a consulting affiliate to the Friends Hospital, Philadelphia and the Director of the Systems-Centered Training Institute. She teaches, trains and supervises systems-centred therapists internationally, and practises in Philadelphia, USA. She has developed the theory of living human systems and its systems-centred practice. She co-authored The Visible and Invisible Group in 1981 and wrote Systems-centered Therapy for Groups, published in 1997. Also in 1997 she received the Group Psychologist of the Year award from the American Psychological Association for her involvement in research, publication, teaching and training. She exemplifies the finest in scholarship in the discipline of psychology. As a group psychologist she has contributed to expanding our knowledge of the boundaries between clinical and social psychology with the investigation of living human systems and systems-centered group and individual therapy. Her considerable body of work illustrates the highest blend of creativity and learning'.
Susan P. Gantt, PhD, is a psychologist and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, USA, where she co-ordinates group psychotherapy training. She is Board Certified in Group Psychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology. In private practice she works as a licensed practitioner in systems-centred group, couples and individual therapy and as a trainer and conference director in systems-centred training in the US and Britain.