Opportunities for the future in family systems medicine

Looking toward the future agenda for family systems medicine is a daunting task but one adeptly tackled by Fisher, Steinglass, and Kazak in this special issue of Family, Systems, & Health. Taken together, their perspectives pave the way to address several longstanding as well as emerging issues that confront practitioners, researchers, and family members. A lively discussion was stimulated by Don Bloch, Karen Weiss, Herta Guttman, Peter leRoux, Harry Reis, and David Seaburn who served as respondents at the Lyman Wynne Festchrift held at the University of Rochester Medical Center on September 10, 2005. In this brief commentary, I summarize the key points made by the respondents as well as the discussion that ensued with the audience. This commentary reflects my own distillation of the points that were made. It does not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of a single respondent but attempts to integrate the systems perspectives that predominated throughout the conversation.