Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy (May 19, 1920 – January 28, 2007) was a Hungarian-American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their ...

and one of the founders of the field of

family therapy Family therapy (also referred to as family counseling, family systems therapy, marriage and family therapy, couple and family therapy) is a branch of psychology and clinical social work that works with families and couples in intimate relations ...

. Born Iván Nagy, his family name was changed to Böszörményi-Nagy during his childhood. He emigrated from Hungary to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in 1950, and he simplified his name to Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy at the time of his naturalization as a US citizen.

Contextual therapy

Boszormenyi-Nagy is best known for developing the ''Contextual'' approach to

and individual psychotherapy. It is a comprehensive model which integrates ''individual psychological'', ''interpersonal'',

existential Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

systemic Systemic fundamental to a predominant social, economic, or political practice. This refers to: In medicine In medicine, ''systemic'' means affecting the whole body, or at least multiple organ systems. It is in contrast with ''topical'' or ''loc ...

, and ''intergenerational'' dimensions of individual and

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

life and development. The contextual model, in its most well-known formulation, proposes four dimensions of relational reality, both as a guide for conducting therapy and for conceptualizing relational reality in general: # Facts (e.g., genetic input, physical health,

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor ...

background,

socioeconomic status Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic access to resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's ...

, basic historical facts, events in a person's life cycle, etc) # Individual psychology (the domain of most individual psychotherapies) # Systemic transactions (the domain covered by classical systemic family therapy: e.g., rules, power, alignments, triangles, feedback, etc) # Relational ethics. These dimensions are taken to be inter-linked, but not equatable or reducible to one another.Le Goff, J.F. (2001). Boszormenyi-Nagy and Contextual Therapy: An Overview
''ANZJFT'', 22 (3)
: 147–157. The contextual model proposes ''relational ethics''—the

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of morality, right and wrong action (philosophy), behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, alo ...

or "

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

" dimension of close relationships—as an overarching integrative conceptual and methodological principle. Relational ethics focuses in particular on the nature and roles of ''connectedness'', ''caring'', reciprocity,

loyalty Loyalty, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, country, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only anothe ...

, ''legacy'',

guilt Guilt may refer to: *Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard *Culpability, a legal term *Guilt (law), a legal term Music * ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims * "Guilt" (The Long Bl ...

, fairness,

accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the publ ...

, and

trustworthiness Trust is the willingness of one party (the trustor) to become vulnerable to another party (the trustee) on the presumption that the trustee will act in ways that benefit the trustor. In addition, the trustor does not have control over the acti ...

- within and between generations. It is taken to represent not just a set of prescriptive norms, nor simply

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betw ...

phenomena, perspectives, or constructions. Rather, relational ethics is seen as (1) having some objective

ontological In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exi ...

and experiential basis by virtue of being derived from basic

needs A need is dissatisfaction at a point of time and in a given context. Needs are distinguished from wants. In the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. In other words, a need is something required for ...

and from real

relationship Relationship most often refers to: * Family relations and relatives: consanguinity * Interpersonal relationship, a strong, deep, or close association or acquaintance between two or more people * Correlation and dependence, relationships in mathem ...

s that have concrete consequences (i.e., as distinct from

abstract Abstract may refer to: * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land * Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document * Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...

or "value" ethics); and (2) as being significant

explanatory An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. It may establish rules or laws, and may clarify the existing rules or laws in relation to ...

and

motivational Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...

dynamics operating - in both beneficial and destructive ways - in individuals, families,

social groups In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties ...

, and broader

society A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...

. The construct validity and significance of relational ethics in clinical and educational contexts have been supported by a number of studies. (See also ''

Relational ethics Relational may refer to: Business * Relational capital, the value inherent in a company's relationships with its customers, vendors, and other important constituencies * Relational contract, a contract whose effect is based upon a relationship of ...

''.) In a later formulation of the contextual model, Boszormenyi-Nagy proposed a fifth dimension - the ''ontic dimension'' - which was implicit in the earlier formulations, but which considers more explicitly the nature of the interconnection between people that allows an individual to exist decisively as a ''person'', and not just a ''self''. ''(See also

Intersubjectivity In philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, intersubjectivity is the relation or intersection between people's cognitive perspectives. Definition is a term coined by social scientists to refer to a variety of types of human inter ...

and

Philosophy of dialogue Philosophy of dialogue is a type of philosophy based on the work of the Austrian-born Jewish philosopher Martin Buber best known through its classic presentation in his 1923 book '' I and Thou''. For Buber, the fundamental fact of human existence, ...

.)''

Methodology

''Multidirected partiality'' is the main methodological principle of contextual therapy. Its aim is to evoke a

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is ...

of responsible mutual position-taking among family members. It consists of a sequential,

empathic Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, cog ...

turning towards member after member (even absent members), in which both acknowledgement and expectation are directed at them. It is an alternative to the more common 'neutrality' or unilateral

partiality Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another ...

of other approaches. It requires an appreciation of the 'ledger' from each person's point of view, even that of the current victimizer. For example, a family comes into therapy desiring to fix their son's outbursts and oppositional defiant behavior. The therapist (and possibly a co-therapist where appropriate) would first seek basic information (including any relevant clinical or medical information), construct a

genogram A genogram (also known as a McGoldrick–Gerson study, a Lapidus schematic or a family diagram) is a pictorial display of a person's family relationships and medical history. It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visual ...

if possible, and have each family member explain their side of the story (either conjointly or in individual sessions as appropriate), in order to begin to understand the problem in terms of background facts, the relational context (i.e., ''intergenerational'', ''interpersonal'', and

), and deeper

factors (e.g., psychological processes, hidden ''loyalties'' and ''legacies'', ''ledger'' imbalances, ''destructive entitlement'' resulting from real or perceived injustices, ''