The Cybernetics of Physical Illness
- 1 March 1987
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Family Process
- Vol. 26 (1) , 35-48
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.1987.00035.x
Abstract
This is a speculative essay on the application of cybernetic concepts to the diagnosis and treatment of physical illness. The essay assumes that there is a unified biopsychosocial field in which the designation of illness as “physical” violates the ecological wholeness of the field. Although the field is complex, clinical intervention requires a degree of simplicity. This simplicity is sought by describing biopsychosocial experience in terms of recursive cycles. Clinical intervention is discussed as a disruption of recursive cycles.Keywords
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