On networks: Network therapy,network intervention and networking

The theories, techniques, and applications of interventions in social networks have multiplied in recent years. This brief paper traces the significant clinical literature on networks, at the same time pointing out similarities with tribal healing in primitive societies. Present-day applications to human support systems, from half-way houses to therapeutic family reunions, are included. Network therapy is a system model of psychotherapy and as such is an older, more public model than the one to one therapies. This has important implications for differing views of privacy and confidentiality, and of holistic versus scientific healing.