General system theory as a framework for biopsychosocial research and practice in mental health

The study of such complex issues as mind functioning and mental health requires a multilevel approach. The general system theory elaborated by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in the first half of the twentieth century can still be viewed as a landmark contribution to address these issues scientifically. His seminal work represents an incomparable conceptual framework for understanding how biological, psychological and social dimensions are causally interrelated. The biopsychosocial approach informed by this theory should allow, at least in principle, to interpret mental and physical aspects as integral features of a multilayered interplay between genetic constraints, developmental trajectories and life contexts. In spite of this potentiality, however, most of modern interpretations of biological and psychological processes are still relying almost exclusively on reductionist theories. This entails reducing the complexity of many developmental processes to the laws of interactions and to their sustaining mechanisms, rather than considering them as parts of larger wholes worth of being approached trans-disciplinarily as emergent relationships. In this paper, we aim at reexamining the general system theory in relation to the biological issues that have provided the conceptual foundations for a variety of psychological constructs and, secondly, to show how several of von Bertalanffy's original ideas may still be further elaborated to yield more advanced theories of mind and learning.