Thinking about thinking in family therapy.

Epistemological comparison reveals congruence between the reality-defusing though rules of new science, Batesonian evolution, and ecosystemic thinking with families and family therapy. These rules provide a base for a technology of therapy in which the therapist functions as a benign detective, seeking out with the family and others the event-shape in time-space (the Storey) that contains the reported distress. Intervention consists of action that adds to the Storey in a manner designed to alleviate the distress. A Storey is presented that illustrates the difference between medical, paradoxical, and ecosystemic interventions.