Clinical Chaos

Book excerpt: Psychology and the social sciences are in need of a new foundation, one that provides a better model for understanding complex behavior. Chaos theory and its newest permutation, complexity theory, offers an innovative, exciting and potentially revolutionary leap forward in the evolution of scientific thought. In Clinical Chaos, therapists and theoreticians from various areas in the social sciences will explore the relevance and implications for non-linear dynamics in observing, explaining, and understanding human behavior. At last, the scientific search can again encompass surprise, transformation, unpredictability, and pattern. This book is intended to introduce social scientists to chaos through paths that are already familiar. By linking chaos theory with existing psychological theories and established areas of clinical pursuit, Clinical Chaos emphasizes the relevance of this new science in providing a more flexible useful model for complexities of life.