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Recent inquiry into methods of treating alcohol and drug abuse have been frustrated by the same conclusion: "Does the person really change?" Naturally the goals of abstinence, of sobriety, invoke all sorts of personal commitment to change--from alcohol or drug consumption to life patterns. Altering interpersonal, social, occupational, and recreational variables dismantles the vicious cycle of repeated addiction developed over a period of time. But what does this accomplish? The goal of fully disinfecting an addict's world of cues and urges is to prevent relapse; or is the goal simpler: to modify specific addictive behaviors at the root of the problem? Both are credible goals. Systems therapists subscribe primarily to the first goal, whereas behavioral therapists focus on the second.

General systems theory (GST) aims to describe patterns and processes in a wide range of phenomena that are the same across disciplines and across levels of complexity and organization. It is mainly descriptive and qualitative, focusing on how a system evolved or prescribing what is necessary for that system to survive. Systems begin with an input that is processed by the system on its way to becoming an output. The process of transformation through the system is governed by rules of transformation, frequently called feedback. Types of feedback regulate stability and allow the system to evolve through constant change. All objects in the system are reciprocally interdependent, causing changes in one person or object to have specific and broad consequences for other persons or objects interfaced in the system.

The basic assumption underlying GST is that time, energy, and space are properties of organization. Balance among these properties varies with different levels of feedback and control. Miller ( 1972), for example, proposed four particular levels affecting families: simple feedback, cybernetic control, morphogenesis, and reorientation or conversion.

Simple feedback is a typically circular process in which inputs to a system convert into outputs, producing a complete feedback loop (also called a positive feedback loop). Should the loop be delayed, disrupted, or diverted, causing separation between inputs and outputs, then it is called a negative feedback loop. In addictive family relationships, loops translate into communicative messages exchanged between significant players such as between parents or parent and child. Lack of communication means any input from children or non-addict parent is lost. The resulting negative loops distance family members and foster distrust.

At level 2, cybernetic control, the output of a system returns to a monitoring or inspection modality wherein adults judge it as correct or incorrect based on criteria or meta-rules. Criteria established and promulgated by the family may act as the standard for comparison. On a family level, this means a child's grades "return" to stand trial against his parents' meta-rules of expectations. Failure to meet their criteria forces the child's grades (input) to be corrected before that child again can interact with external systems (the school). Before starting a new marking period, in other words, the child must suffer reprehensible consequences for poor grades. That way, cybernetically, his future grades (input) will reflect the family standards. . .

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