The paradigm of modern psychology has been the determinism of Newtonian physics. That model earns psychology status as a science yet tunnels it to a linear way of unraveling human functioning. Responding to demands for a more holistic approach to psychological practice, it is necessary to redefine the "self" and other terms. Chaos, complexity, and self-organizing theories provide alternative meanings for disorder and therapeutic change. Chaos theories are affiliated with postmodern epistemology, an emerging worldview, and stand in contrast to positivism. Nonlinear models, which are able to reflect reciprocal engagement of subject and environment, provide more powerful foundations for psychotherapy than traditional determinism. Chaos theory, as a new metaphor for psychology in general and psychotherapy in particular, provides conceptualization for two agents of order: dissipation and bifurcation, which enhance understanding of therapeutic change. Functional concepts that augment existing therapies are: (1) new narratives as new attractors; (2) therapeutic autopoiesis as the unique outcome; (3) movement toward a higher order of the possible self; and (4) the coauthoring relationship as structural coupling. Not simply passive receivers for client stories, therapists are seen as active co-constructors in this new and demanding therapeutic context. (EMK)