Attempts to bridge the gap between systemic understanding and dialogic understanding in therapy, which have some similarities, but also a whole array of differences. The most striking one is the very vantage point for observation each of them holds.

Series Editors' Foreword -- Introduction -- Understanding and influencing -- Text and context -- Practices and theories -- Hypotheses and dialogues -- Therapists and clients -- Frames and relationships -- Dialogues and systems -- Statements and questions -- Presence and absence -- Selves and technologies -- Postscript

'In his new book Paulo Bertrando confirms his reputation as a highly respected theoretician, a chronicler of the development of ideas in the field of family therapy and systemic practice, and a writer of unusual clarity. Here he demonstrates his ability to identify the strands of new thinking and new practice, critique them, and open them up to scrutiny in such a way that the reader understands more clearly how the ideas and techniques can take their rightful place among the vast array of ideas in the systemic field. But in addition to positioning his ideas, Bertrando cites the epigenetic process that enables his to build a new model of his own based on his original work with the Milan model, but moving on to incorporate much of the new thinking in this field. For example, he describes the dialogic therapist as someone whose therapy is guided by the use of systemic hypotheses but who also works in a more collaborative manner, in dialogue, to produce a hypothesis actively created by both therapist and clients.'- David Campbell and Ross Draper, from the Series Editors' Foreword