who do you think are the 10 most
influential family therapy pioneers?
Terry D. Hargrave, PhD
Clinical Member
Amarillo, TX
1. Salvador Minuchin
2. Virginia Satir
3. Murray Bowen
4. Jay Haley
5. Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy
6. Neil Jacobson
7. Olga Silverstien
8. James Framo
9. Carl Whitaker
10. Sue Johnson
Sandra M. Stith, PhD
Clinical Member
Manhattan, KS
1. Lyman Wynne
2. Salvador Minuchin
3. Jay Haley
4. Cloe Madanes
5. Steve de Shazer
6. Insoo Kim Berg
7. Carl Whitaker
8. Milton Erikson
9. Virginia Satir
10. Michael White
Gonzalo M. Bacigalupe EdD
Clinical Member
Auburndale, MA
1. Murray Bowen
2. Monica McGoldrick
3. Salvador Minuchin
4. Virgnia Satir
5. Carlos Sluzki
6. Carl Whitaker
7. Tom Andersen
8. Harry Goolishian
9. Paul Watzlawick
10. Michael White
William M. OHanlon, MS
Clinical Member
Santa Fe, NM
1. Milton Erickson
2. Jay Haley
3. Gregory Bateson
4. Virginia Satir
5. John Weakland
22 f a m i l y t h e r a p y
6. Salvador Minuchin
7. Michael White
8. Cloe Madanes
9. Steve de Shazer
10. Carl Whitaker
Froma W. Walsh, PhD
Clinical Member
Chicago, IL
1. Salvador Minuchin
2. Murray Bowen
3. Virginia Satir
4. James Framo
5. Milan Group
6. Jay Haley
7. Mental Research Institute
(MRI)
8. Carl Whitaker
9. Lyman Wynne
10. Ivan Boszornmenyi-Nagy
Gregory W. Brock, PhD
Clinical Member
Lexington, KY
1. Bernard Guerney
2. Louise Guerney
3. Virginia Satir
4. Jay Haley
5. Salvador Minuchin
6. Carl Whitaker
7. David Olson
8. Doug Sprenkle
9. Alan Gurman
10. Neil Jacobson
Carmen Knudson-
Martin, PhD
Clinical Member
Loma Linda, CA
1. Gregory Bateson
2. Murray Bowen
3. Jay Haley
4. Salvador Minuchin
5. Virgina Satir
6. Carl Whitaker
7. Harlene Anderson
8. Insoo Kim Berg
9. Michael White
10. Lynn Hoffman
m a g a z i n e
Arnold Woodruff, MS
Clinical Member
Richmond, VA
1. Sal Minuchin
2. Virginia Satir
3. Carl Whitaker
4. Jay Haley
5. Murray Bowen
6. MRI Group
7. Milton Erickson
8. Steve de Shazer/Insoo K.
Berg
9. Bill OHanlon
10.Harlene Anderson/Harry
Goolishian
Shelley Green, PhD
Clinical Member
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
1. Gregory Bateson
2. Milton Erickson
3. Don Jackson
4. Jay Haley
5. John Weakland
6. Salvador Minuchin
7. Virginia Satir
8. Luigi Boscolo
9. Gianfranco Cecchin
10. Carl Whitaker
James D. Thomas, MD
Clinical Member
Lakewood, CO
1. Salvador Minuchin
2. Virginia Satir
3. Murray Bowen
4. Insoo Kim Berg
5. Paul Watzlawick
6. Jay Haley
7. Olga Silverstein
8. Michael White
9. Carl Whitaker
10. Peggy Papp
Wayne Denton, MD
Clinical Member
Dallas, TX
1. Gregory Bateson
2. Salvador Minuchin
3. Virginia Satir
4. Emily Mudd
5. Aaron Rutledge
6. William Nichols
7. Wallace Denton
8. Douglas Sprenkle
9. Fred Piercy
10. Susan Johnson
Thorana S. Nelson, PhD
Clinical Member
Mendon, UT
1. Murray Bowen
2. Salvador Minuchin
3. Jay Haley
4. Cloe Madanes
5. Milton Erickson
family
6. John Weakland
7. Monica McGoldrick
8. Rachel Hare-Mustin
9. Steve de Shazer
10. Insoo Kim Berg
therapy
William L. Turner, PhD
Clinical Member
Washington, DC.
1. Nancy Boyd-Franklin
2. Evan Imber-Black
3. Elaine Pinderhughes
pioneers
4. Murray Bowen
5. Salvador Minuchin
6. Pauline Boss
7. Kenneth Hardy
8. Monica McGoldrick
9. Froma Walsh
10. Celia Falicov
a d i r e c t o r y
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 23
family therapy
Nathan Ward Ackerman
Birth date and Influences leading to interest in
location family-based interventions
Nathan Ackerman Nathan became chief psychiatrist at the Menninger
was born in Child Guidance Clinic in 1937. He also was the chief
Bessarabia, Russia psychiatrist at the Jewish Board of Guardians from
on November 22, 1937 to 1951. His work in these two positions greatly
1908 and died in influenced his thinking about family systems. In 1938,
1971. he published two books, The Unity of the Family and
Family Diagnosis: An Approach to the Preschool Child that
Educational contributed to the development of family therapy. After
background World War II, Nathan began to experiment with seeing
Nathan and his patients and their families in a group. He published,
family came to the taught and showed movies demonstrating this new
U.S. in 1912 and method, pioneering not only a new type of therapy, but
were naturalized also the tradition of the audiovisual documentation of
in 1920. He attended public school in New York City, clinical work that became one of the cornerstones of
earned a BA from Columbia University in 1929, and an family therapy training.
MD from Columbia in 1933.
he believed that the mental or physical disposition of one
family member would effect other family members, and that
often the best way to treat the individual was to treat the
family as a whole.
Contributions to the field How this work is being carried on today
Nathan Ackerman is widely acknowledged as a pioneer Nathan Ackerman founded the Ackerman Institute
in the field of family therapy and is credited with in 1960. For almost half a century, the Institute has
developing the concept of family psychology. In 1955, continued his pioneering work by engaging in a three-
he was the first to initiate a debate on family therapy at a pronged effort that encompasses: 1) innovative clinical
meeting of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, family therapy services through its onsite clinic (licensed
with the intention of opening lines of communication by the State of New York Office of Mental Health)
in this new branch of psychiatry. He believed that the and in community settings; 2) state-of-the-art training
mental or physical disposition of one family member programs for mental health and other professionals
would effect other family members, and that often the onsite and in community settings in and around New
best way to treat the individual was to treat the family York City and internationally; and 3) cutting-edge
as a whole. In fact, he was a very strong advocate of research initiatives that focus on the development of new
treating the whole family in order to solve the problems treatment models and training techniques. Through this
of the individual. Nathan devoted most of his career to dynamic interaction of treatment, training and research,
family psychotherapy. the Institute helps families, serves mental healthcare
professionals, and brings innovative perspectives to a
broad array of community service agencies and other
healthcare facilities.
Information and photo provided by the
Ackerman Institute for the Family, New York, NY.
24 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
pioneers
Gregory Bateson
Birth date and location
Gregory Bateson was born in 1904 in Grantchester,
England, and died in 1980.
Educational background
Gregory graduated with a bachelors degree in natural
sciences at St. Johns College, Cambridge University in
1925, and received his masters degree in anthropology
in 1930.
Contributions to the field
Between 1953 and 1962, anthropologist Gregory
Bateson and his research team (John Weakland, Jay
Haley, Don Jackson, and William Fry) conducted
one of the most important and influential series of
research projects ever in the behavioral sciences. Using
Russell and Whiteheads theory of logical types as a
conceptual framework, the focus of inquiry was on
the nature of communications processes, context, and
paradox. The first synthesis of the research was the
landmark article, Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia
(1956). During the 10 years this group worked
together, they produced more than 70 articles and
book chapters. This ground breaking research set forth
a revolutionary approach to understanding human
behavior, and in doing so, laid the foundation upon
which communication (i.e., interactional) theory, and a
major part of the field of marriage and family therapy,
and brief therapy are based. Subsequent to these research
projects, Gregory, who was among the most respected
anthropologists of his era before the projects began,
was to go on to achieve recognition as one of the most
important founding thinkers and creators of cybernetics
and communication theory as applied to understanding
human behaviorand to be one of the most influential
theoreticians ever in anthropology, psychiatry, and
marriage and family therapy.
one of the most
influential theoreticians
ever in anthropology,
psychiatry, and marriage
and family therapy.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
The Handbook of Family Therapy
(1981) tells us that Gregory had
studied the social systems of
animals and had an interest in
general systems theory. These
early roots eventually led to work
with schizophrenic children and
their communications with their
mothers. This is where the concept of the double-bind
would emerge. Family sessions had become a part of the
research teams efforts.
How this work is being carried on today
In the 38 years since the Bateson Projects came to an
end, hundreds of books, book chapters and articles based
upon this research have been published and countless
copies sold. In addition, some of the most influential
brief and family therapy orientations in use today, most
notably the MRI Brief Therapy model, Steve de Shazer
and Insoo Bergs Solution Focused Therapy, and the
Milan Systemic Family Therapy orientation, trace their
heritage directly to Gregory Batesons research projects.
Further, many leading systemic narrative and post-
modern approaches acknowledge the Bateson Projects as
having been an important wellspring from which their
own orientations derive. It is not an exaggeration to say
that the Bateson Research Projects remain one ofif not
the mostprofoundly influential sources of the current
interactional and systemic orientations to understanding
human behavior, as is recognized not only throughout
the field of marriage and family therapy, but also in the
fields of cultural anthropology, psychiatry, psychology
and the other human sciences.
Most information and photo courtesy of Mental Research
Institute (MRI), Palo Alto, CA.
Reference: Broderick, C. B., & Schrader, S. S. (1982). The
history of professional marriage and family therapy. In A.
Gurman & D. Kniskern (Eds.), Handbook of family therapy,
24-25. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 25
family therapy
Luigi Boscolo
Birth date and location
Luigi Boscolo was born in Italy, but
as of press time, the AAMFT was
not able to determine the date or
city of birth.
Educational background
Luigi Boscolo studied medicine and
pediatrics at the University of Padua
in Italy where he earned his MD.
Contributions to the field
From 1961-67, Luigi was in New York specializing in
psychiatry and psychoanalysis at the New York Medical
College and Metropolitan Hospital in New York. In
1967, he returned to Italy to join his friend Gianfranco
Cecchin and colleagues Mara Selvini-Palazzoli and
Giuliana Prata for the purpose of treating schizophrenia
and eating disorders in what later became the Family
Therapy Center of Milan. By the early 70s, the Milan
team put forth a new model of family therapy inspired
by the strategic therapy of Palo Alto, as well as the ideas
of Gregory Bateson (cybernetics), which very much
inspired them. The methods and results are described
in the landmark book, Paradox and Counterparadox.
The team was having success working with apparently
impossible cases, and they published a series of
influential articles discussing treatment approaches
of severely disturbed people, using what they called
Milan systemic family therapy. Others in the field
became aware of Luigi and the Milan team through
these brilliant early writings on systemic therapy with
families in schizophrenic transaction (c.f., Selvini-
Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, & Prata, 1978, 1980;
Cecchin, 1987). Communication theory and conjoint
family therapy proved to be enormously helpful in the
Milan teams work. From 1975 to 1980, the concept
of neutrality was a very significant offering from the
Milan group. Many in the field consider this to be
their most important contribution. In the early 1980s,
the Milan team split up and Luigi remained with
Gianfranco Cecchin to found and co-direct the Family
Therapy Institute of Milan, where they trained countless
luigis work is described as raising the art
of asking good questions almost to a science.
26 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
therapists in the Milan systemic approach. The center, in
addition to clinical work and research, began to play an
important role for training, which eventually spread to
Europe, America, and Australia. Luigi was a teacher and
supervisor not only at the center, but abroad, as well.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Luigi and his collaborators were curious to learn about
the work of Paul Watzlawick in Palo Alto, CA. For
several years, the group applied psychoanalytic logic in
working with families, but they were frustrated by the
slow pace of progress. Searching for a more effective
approach, the team members found writings about
communication theory and conjoint family therapy
by members of the Bateson Research Team (Bateson,
Jackson, Haley, and Weakland) and the Mental
Research Institute to be enormously helpful in their
work (Selvini-Palazzoli, 1995). Using Pragmatics of
Human Communication (Watzlawick, Beavin-Bavelas
& Jackson, 1967) as a guide, the Milan team embraced
communication/interactional theory, completely
changing how they conceptualized the nature of
problems and their technique of family treatment.
How this work is being carried on today
Some of the major concepts emerging from, or advanced
by, the Milan Group which greatly influenced the field
and endure today are circularity, hypothesis building and
curiosity, psychotic family games, and time. Luigis of therapycontextual therapy. He also demonstrated
work, along with the rest of the team, was described
by James A. Marley in Family Involvement in Treating
Schizophrenia (2003) as raising the art of asking good
questions almost to a science. Today, the Post-Milan
approach is an amalgam of the original concepts blended
with new techniques.
Some information excerpted from Family Therapy News,
May/June 1985; September/October 1986; and the Web
site of Centro Milanese di Terapia della Famiglia. Some
text written by Wendel A. Ray, PhD, and Karin Schlanger,
MFT. See page xx for references and author information.
pioneers
Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy
Birth date and location
Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, MD, was born in Budapest,
Hungary, in 1920 and died in 2007.
Educational background
Ivan obtained his MD from Peter Pazmany University,
and completed his psychiatric residency and additional
training in physics and biochemistry, with the hope of
discovering the etiology of schizophrenia. A political
refugee, he moved to the U.S. in 1950. Already an
assistant professor of psychiatry when he left Hungary,
he joined the University of Illinois in Chicago and gained
the respect of the scientific community for his research
on correlations between mental illness and intracellular
metabolism. However, he realized the scientific knowledge
of the time was not sufficient to reach his lifes goal, so
he returned to clinical work and spent his life developing
and refining contextual therapy, and trying to define
good therapy, in general. He obtained his U.S. board-
certification in psychiatry in 1956.
Contributions to the field
Ivan discovered that our behavior towards others is
not simply determined by our individual biological
or psychological needs, nor by the regulatory forces
described in general systems theory or cybernetics, but
also by our expectation of fairness and reciprocity, which
he described as the dimension of relational ethics. This
led him to the definition of a multidimensional model
determine, since Ivan refused to establish an organization
that the cohesion of families and other human groups
was the result of the individual commitment from each
group member to respond to the expectations of the
others, in return for their support. For Ivan, family
homeostasis depends on loyalty; not on homeostatic
forces that family therapists had been hard pressed
to define, but from a personal commitment of each
individual to remain available to other family members.
Invisible Loyalties (with Geraldine Spark, 1973) is one
of the most quoted books in the field, but also the
source of some misunderstandings. Too often, therapists
have interpreted family loyalties as an obstacle to
individuation. To the contrary, following the existential
philosophers, Ivan contends that true autonomy results
from relating to others. Mental health and family health
are inseparable from a willingness to care about others,
and about the next generations. His conclusions about
the importance of loyalty and reciprocity for our success
as individuals and as families have been confirmed by
the work of researchers in other fields. This has given
a scientific validity to the dimension of
relational ethics. Ivan taught contextual
therapy and psychiatry for over 20 years at
Hahnemann University, founded its master
in family therapy program in the 70s, and
retired as an emeritus professor of psychiatry in 1999.
He also founded the Institute for Contextual Growth,
which has offered training both in the U.S. and in
Europe for three decades. Ivan was a founding member
of AFTA and of the Family Institute of Philadelphia, the
recipient of numerous professional awards, awarded an
honorary medical degree from the University of Bern
(Switzerland), and received a gold presidential medal for
distinguished contribution to his homeland, granted to
him by the president of Hungary, Arpad Gnzs, in 2000.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
In 1957, at Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute,
Ivan felt that individual therapy had limited results in
schizophrenia, so he moved toward the involvement of
family members in treatment, leading to the formulation
of family therapy. His unit became one of the earliest
family therapy training centers in the U.S. and provided
inspiration for many pioneers of family therapy in Europe
How this work is being carried on today
Though contextual therapy is practiced world-wide,
the exact number of contextual therapists is difficult to
for his approach. He always insisted that his work had
validity for anyone wanting to do good therapy; it
was not just for contextual therapists. Indeed, others
outside of the contextual approach recognize his work as
important for their practice. His influence has reached
outside of the field, and he has offered suggestions for
applying contextual therapy to intergroup relationships.
The approach is taught in most academic and private
family therapy training programs, and some programs
offer dedicated contextual therapy tracks both in the
U.S. and in Europe. As to the future, contextual therapy
is bound to gain a new visibility since family therapists
will need to make space for neurobiological determinants
of behavior in their models of therapy. In their search for
an integrative model, they will discover that contextual
therapy is already available as an integrative approach
that spans from biology to relational ethics.
Catherine Ducommun-Nagy, MD, LMFT, The Institute
for Contextual Growth, PC, Glenside, PA.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 27
family therapy
Murray Bowen
Birth date and location
Murray Bowen was born on January
13, 1913 in Waverly, Tennessee and
died in 1990.
Educational background
Murray was awarded an MD from
the University of Tennessee Medical School, Memphis,
in 1937. He served internships at Bellevue and Grasslands
Hospitals in New York from 1938 to 1941. After five
years of active duty in the Army, he did a Fellowship in
psychiatry at the Menninger Clinic from 1946 to 1949.
Contributions to the field
Murray moved to NIMH in 1954 to study mother-adult
offspring symbiosis in more depth. The dysfunctional
adult offspring were schizophrenic, but he could have
studied symbiosis in other conditions as well, such as
severe alcoholism. During the first year of the project,
he saw that the unresolved mother-adult offspring
attachment was part of a larger relationship process
in which the father and other family members played
important roles. The family could be most accurately
conceptualized as an emotional unit. Three other
developments occurred during the early years of the study.
Mother and schizophrenic offspring were each initially
treated with individual psychotherapy. After appreciating
the involvement of other family members in the process,
Murray ended the individual sessions and developed a
method of therapy for the family. The goal of the family
therapy was to see if one family member could pull-up
out of the emotional stuck-togetherness and function
as a more differentiated self. If one parent could do it, it
would have a ripple effect that benefited the schizophrenic
one. A second development was realizing the need for
systems thinking to deal with the complex interactions in
the families. A third development came from observations
from concurrent outpatient work with families having
problems less severe than schizophrenia. Murray realized
that the fusion or emotional interdependence he found
in schizophrenic families is simply an extreme version of
the fusion that exists in all families. The NIMH project
ended in 1959 and Murray moved to the Georgetown
University Medical School Department of Psychiatry.
he was able to recognize the intense involvement that many
patients parents had in their lives.
28 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
During the early 1960s, he originated Bowen family
systems theory. He considered the landmarks of his
theory to include the introduction of natural systems
concepts and evolutionary theory, the family diagram, the
emotional system, differentiation of self, triangles, fusion,
cut-off, projection to succeeding generations, extended
family patterns, emotional objectivity, the therapists
control of self, extension of family process to work and
social systems, and societal regressionall integrated into
human emotional, physical, and social functioning.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Murray concluded early on that Freudian theory
contained too much subjectivity to become part of
science. He studied the sciences and other disciplines
with the goal of understanding what would be required
to develop a science of human behavior. He decided it
would require anchoring a theory in the understanding
of human beings as part of all life, as a product of
evolution. Murray also did therapy and clinical research
with a wide range of psychiatric problems. He treated
patients and interviewed family members. In the process,
he was able to recognize the intense involvement that
many patients parents had in their lives. He used
symbiosis to describe the unresolved emotional
attachment that typically existed between the mother
and her adult dysfunctional offspring. Murray viewed
the adult childs dysfunction to be as much a symptom
of the unresolved attachment as its cause.
How this work is being carried on today
Since Murray Bowens death, the development of Bowen
theory and its applications has continued at the Bowen
Center for the Study of the Family in Washington, D.C.,
and at other centers around the country and overseas.
The Center conducts training, sponsors conferences;
publishes a journal, audiovisual, and other materials;
has a family therapy clinic, and is involved in research
efforts. Research thus far is consistent with a systems
paradigm, providing a more complete explanation of
human problems than the cause-and-effect paradigm.
Michael Kerr, Georgetown Family Center, Washington, DC.
pioneers
Richard Fisch
Birth date and location
Richard Fisch was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York.
Educational background
Richard Fisch, MD, graduated from Colby College and
spent a year studying at Columbia University, School of
Anthropology. From 1945-46, Dick served as a medic in
the US Navy. Returning to civilian life, he entered New
York Medical College where he graduated in 1954. Dick
completed a year rotating internship at the Brookdale
Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, followed by psychiatric
residency at the Sheppard Pratt Health System,
Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in 1958,
where Harry Stack Sullivans Interpersonal Theory of
Behavior was still central in the teaching of faculty.
Contributions to the field
Six years of interaction with other MRI research
associates culminated in 1965 with publication of Dicks
first significant contribution to the literature, Resistance
to Change in the Psychiatric Community, in which
he outlined some of the rationales used then (and even
now) to justify retaining the status quo in psychiatric
orientations that place almost exclusive emphasis on
the individual in isolation from the relationships of
which they are a part. In a memo to Don Jackson,
dated September 15, 1965, Dick proposed creation of
a research project focused specifically on how to make
therapy more effective and efficient. As Dick recalled,
The idea and planning of a clinical research project
in brief therapy began at MRI in 1965. The climate
of therapy at that time had reached the highpoint of
psychoanalysis and it, or variations of it, influenced
much, if not most of therapy activity. At the same time,
family therapy was beginning to develop but had very
little recognition in the therapy world (2005). With this
proposal, and creation of the MRI Brief Therapy Center,
Richard Fisch triggered the emergence of Brief Therapy
approaches in the world that have radically improved the
practice of therapy.
the major, and almost sole, effort expended in out-patient treatment today is in long-term
psychotherapy. this is not only among private therapists, but also among most outpatient clinicsthus,
there is a need for a facility that will consistently provide imaginative, well planned, brief therapy and
at the same time permit a more thorough study of the effectiveness of this approach in general, and of
particular techniques more specifically. richard fisch, september 15, 1965.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
In 1958, Dick moved to California, where he
became assistant director for the San Mateo
County Hospital. He held a number of other
positions in traditional hospitals in the San Francisco Bay
Area, but was disenchanted with the traditional medical
treatment that dominated psychiatry (Fisch, 1965) so
he began exploring alternatives. This is how he found
Don Jackson, founding director of the Mental Research
Institute (MRI), and soon joined the family therapy research
and training being pioneered at MRI in Palo Alto.
How this work is being carried on today
The portentous effect of Dicks proposal in
launching the Brief Therapy movement is worthy of
acknowledgement. The brief therapy approach set forth
by the BTC Team (Fisch, Weakland, Watzlawick, &
Bodin, 1972; Fisch, Weakland, & Segal, 1982; Fisch
& Schlanger, 1999; Fisch & Ray, 2006; Weakland,
Watzlawick, Fisch, & Bodin, 1974; Watzlawick,
Weakland, & Fisch, 1974) is one of, if not the first
and most influential brief therapy approach in use
today. Forerunner to post modern, social constructivist
approaches, the MRI Brief Therapy model evolved in
direct lineage out of the cybernetic/communication
theory of human behavior set forth by Gregory Bateson
and his team during the 1950s. Conceptually simple,
the orientation takes the idea seriously that it is not so
much the difficulties in living that bring people into
therapy, but ineffective efforts being made to resolve
those difficulties that inadvertently exacerbate and
perpetuate the problem into irresolvable vicious cycles.
Interrupt efforts being made to resolve the problem and
the problem often dissipates on its own. More interested
in finding ways to make therapy more effective than
seeking personal notoriety, Richard Fisch is among the
most unassuming, dedicated, and influential pioneers
of Brief Therapy. Now in his early 80s, he lives in quiet
retirement in Menlo Park, California.
Karin Schlanger, MFT, and Wendel A. Ray, PhD.
References and author information on page 60.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r
family therapy
James Lawrence Framo
Birth date and location Influences leading to interest in
James Framo was born family-based interventions
in South Philadelphia in For 13 years, Jim was a research scientist at the Eastern
1922 and died in 2001. Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Philadelphia. Here,
he collaborated with Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, and it is
Educational believed his profound interest in family of origin was
background nourished and focused during this time. This would be
James Framo completed honed during a four-year stint in community mental
his predoctoral studies health in Philadelphia as chief of a family therapy unit.
at Penn State and
earned his PhD in How this work is being carried on today
psychology at the Jims legacy will continue to be important for new
University of Texas. generations of serious family therapy students, not only
for how his work provides a framework and method for
Contributions to the field families to heal deeply, but also as a reminder of our own
In 1965, Jim co-edited the classic book, Intensive Family unfinished business with our own families of origin,
Therapy, with Boszormenyi-Nagy; in 1972, he edited which drove many in the field to pursue the study of
Family Interaction, a collection of papers in which the family therapy (Kramer, n.d.). Jims advancements
infamous Anonymous article by Bowen first appeared. helped pave the way for what have become today some
In 1982, Jim published his book of collected papers and of the key features of family of origin work in the family
in 1968, Jims paper in Voices entitled, My Families, therapy field.
My Family was published. This was a break-through
acknowledgment of the incredible power and influence Most text excerpted from Family Therapy News, October
of the presence of the therapists own family emotional 1994, by Donald S. Williamson, PhD.
system in the ongoing psychotherapeutic conversation.
This paper anticipated the later epistemological emphasis Reference: S. Z., Kramer (n.d.). In memory of James L.
on the person of the observer as an active participant Framo. Newsletter of the American Family Therapy Academy,
in the systemic interaction being observed. His most Issue #84.
important and influential paper is Symptoms from a
Family Transactional Viewpoint (1970), highlighting
an interactional theoretical basis as an alternative way jim framo was a passionate
of understanding dysfunctional behaviors and clinical
symptoms observed within individuals. The paper has pioneer of family therapy. a
been used in numerous training programs around the pioneer is somebody whose work
U.S. and led the way for development of Jims object
relations-based theoretical approach to MFT. He focused is so embedded in the fabric of
on the relationship between the intrapsychic and the training and practice that all
interrelational. In his view, intrapsychic conflicts are
largely sourced in family of origin experience, and then those who belong to the field
are repeated and either defended or mastered within the use the ideas without knowing
relationship with the spouse, children or other intimates.
All of these dramas can be understood as elaborations anymore who originated them.
from the initial family of origin experience. Jims -celia falicov, honoring jim
therapeutic methods are delineated in Family of Origin
Therapy: An Intergenerational Approach (1992). framo, newsletter of the american
family therapy academy, issue #84.
2 0 0 8 31 32 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
pioneers
Gianfranco Cecchin
Birth date and location
Gianfranco Cecchin was born in Nogarole Vicentino,
Italy in August 1932 and died in 2004.
Educational background
Gianfranco Cecchin, MD, was psychoanalytic in
orientation, receiving medical training and completing
psychiatric residencies in traditional analytic approaches
in New York.
Contributions to the field
After several years of success working with apparently
impossible cases, the mid 1970s found the Milan group
publishing a series of influential articles articulating a
purely systemic approach to treating severely disturbed
people using what they called Milan systemic family
therapy. Others in the field became aware of Gianfranco
and the Milan team through these brilliant early writings
on systemic therapy with families in schizophrenic
transaction (c.f., Selvini-Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, &
Prata, 1978, 1980; Cecchin, 1987). Uncompromising
adherence to systemic epistemology, and creation of
such concepts as hypothesizing, neutrality, circularity,
and curiosity, are a few enduring ideas the field learned
from Gianfranco and his colleagues. In the early 1980s,
the Milan team split up and Gianfranco Cecchin and
Luigi Boscolo teamed up to create the Family Therapy
Institute of Milan, where they trained countless
therapists in the Milan systemic approach. In the late
1980s, Gianfranco began collaboration with Gerry
Lane and Wendel Ray. Meeting several times a year,
training small groups of students and seeing clients at
Lanes institute in Atlanta, the trio spent countless hours
discussing constraints they saw inherent in the then
emerging division between so-called modern and post-
modern models of practice, which led to development
of such concepts as irreverence, the cybernetics of
prejudices, and eccentricity into the systemic literature
(Cecchin, Lane & Ray, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2006).
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
In 1967, Gianfranco joined Luigi Boscolo, Mara
Selvini-Palazzoli and Giuliana Prata for the explicit
purpose of treating schizophrenia and eating disorders
in what became the Family Therapy Center of Milan.
His collaborators were
curious to learn about
Gianfrancos experience with
Paul Watzlawick in Palo
Alto, CA. Together, with
Lynn Hoffman and Peggy
Penn in the U.S., for several
years the group applied
psychoanalytic logic in
working with these families, but they were frustrated by
the slow pace of progress. Searching for a more effective
approach, the team members found writings about
communication theory and conjoint family therapy
by members of the Bateson Research Team (Bateson,
Don Jackson, Jay Haley, and John Weakland) and the
Mental Research Institute to be enormously helpful in
their work (Selvini-Palazzoli, 1995). Using especially
Pragmatics of Human Communication (Watzlawick,
Beavin-Bavelas & Jackson, 1967) as a guide, the Milan
team embraced communication/interactional theory,
completely changing how they conceptualized the nature
of problems and their technique of family treatment.
How this work is being carried on today
Anyone who trained under Gianfranco or worked with
him can confirm what an astoundingly effective teacher,
and stunningly accomplished family therapist he was
playfully using circular questions, curiosity, accepting
and using the presuppositions of family members, and
ascribing continuation of patterns of interaction with
such adroit and gentle touch that people routinely
changed seemingly intransigent interpersonal impasses.
The embodiment of the premises of systemic theory,
Gianfranco Cecchinhis quick mind, penetrating sense
of humor, incredible therapeutic abilities, his laughter
and sparking eyes, and not least, his mischievous
spiritchanged the lives of those with whom he came in
contact. The concepts developed by Gianfranco and his
colleagues greatly influenced the field of family therapy
and elements of the Milan approach are still widely
used today, as they are blended with new concepts and
techniques.
Wendel A. Ray, PhD, and Karin Schlanger, MFT. See page
60 for references and author information.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 29
pioneers
Harold Armen Goolishian
Birth date and location
Harold A. Goolishian was born in 1924 in Lowell,
Massachusetts, raised in Boston, and died in 1991.
Educational background
Harry studied psychology at the University of Houston
and earned his PhD.
Contributions to the field
Harry Goolishian has been described as a pioneer
who offered provocative alternatives. He was a master
clinician, theoretician, teacher, and politician. Harry,
along with Harlene Anderson, developed a postmodern
collaborative approach to therapy, known today as
Collaborative Language Systems. He was a co-founder
of the Galveston Family Institute in 1977, one of the
earliest federally funded family therapy projects in the
United States. There, Harry and colleagues worked
to develop a cybernetic, systems-oriented, strategic,
brief therapy. One of Harrys contributions to the
field was Multiple Impact Therapy (Multiple Impact
Therapy with Families, 1964), which many consider a
landmark in the field of psychotherapy. He published
extensively in professional journals on theoretical and
clinical issues. He is known for his contribution in the
development of MFT training programs and for his
teaching, supervision, and consultation with students
and professionals in the field. In the 90s, Harry and
Anderson explored the applications of theories of
language and meaning involving families and the process
of therapy. The pair also developed the therapists stance
of not-knowing.
he was a master clinician,
theoretician, teacher, and politician.
Influences leading to interest in family-
based interventions
One couple in particular brought Harry
from a psychodynamic approach to an
early form of family therapy. Harry was not
permitted under ethical standards of the day
to see the wife of his schizophrenic patient.
Needing to know more, Harry had the mans wife meet
with him. He eventually met with both of them in one
session. This unethical practice was the beginning for
Harry of working with couples together. Seeing them
separately, it appeared that each person was right in
their relationship assessments; realizing that each made
valid points and were seemingly pleasant people, he
came to believe a problem of language must exist. From
there he began to think about alternative methods for
doing therapy.
How this work is being carried on today
Todays Houston-Galveston Institute is internationally
recognized for its innovative contributions to the
advancements of theory, psychotherapy practice, and
research, and to the development of creative contexts for
learning, practice, and research. It has distinguished itself
by its unique developments in brief therapy and has
been acclaimed for its Collaborative Language Systems
approach with its emphasis on problem-organizing
systems, the role of language, narrative and conversation
in therapy, the not-knowing position, and the translation
of these concepts into work with difficult life situations.
Students and professionals worldwide come to study at
the Institute (Houston Galveston Institute, 2003).
Some information excerpted from Family Therapy News,
January/February 1989 and February 1992.
Reference: Houston Galveston Institute. (2003). About HGI.
Retrieved July 15, 2008, from http://www.talkhgi.com/about.cfm.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 33
family therapy
Ernest Rutherford Groves
Birth date and
location
Ernest R. Groves
was born in 1877
in Framingham,
Massachusetts and
died in 1946.
Educational
background
Ernest received a
religious studies
bachelors degree from
Yale Divinity School
in 1901 and a second
bachelors from
Dartmouth College in 1903. He later received honorary
doctorate degrees from Florida Southern College in
1942 and from Boston University in 1946.
Contributions to the field
A sociologist, Ernest Groves developed the first college
credit course in preparation for marriage at Boston
University in 1922, and at the University of North
Carolina in 1927. He wrote the first college text on the
subject, Marriage, in 1933. Ernest went on to write more
than 20 books and nearly 200 articles and became one
of the leading and most respected family life educators
in the U.S. His work appeared in popular periodicals of
the day, such as Look, Good Housekeeping, and Parents
Magazine, as well as the academic journals, Social Forces
and Journal of Educational Sociology. He was the first
president of the North Carolina Mental Hygiene Society
in 1936 and president of the National Conference on
Family Relations in 1941. From 1938 to 1940, Ernest
was chair of the committee on the Family for the Federal
Council of Churches of Christ in America. Throughout
his career, Ernest was an active member in numerous
national and state organizations for marriage, family
life, and mental hygiene. He began annual conferences
on the Conservation of Marriage and the Family at the
over time, ernest realized so many human problems related when he founded the Mental Research Institute (MRI),
to difficulties from childhood and adolescence.
34 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
University of North Carolina, while his wife began the
conference at the North Carolina College for Negroes.
They became affiliated in 1947. Ernest was a thoughtful
man who gave generously of his time and expertise. He
devoted a great deal of his life to counseling patients,
in person and via mail. His work was considered
progressive for its time.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Early in his career, Ernest was a minister, and as such
there was no shortage of individuals turning to him for
guidance with emotional and interpersonal problems.
Over time, Ernest realized so many human problems
related to difficulties from childhood and adolescence.
Carrying these issues forward into adulthood, the
problems then manifested in adult relationships and
marriage. With this new insight, Ernest began shifting
his interests to child development, family life and
marriage. He would continue throughout his career
to place a strong emphasis on prevention through
education and counseling (Dail & Jewson, 1986).
How this work is being carried on today
Today, the Groves Conference remains a viable
and active organization and will celebrate its 75th
anniversary June 7-11, 2009, at The University of North
Carolina, where it all began in 1934. The last Groves
Conference met in June 2008 in Ireland to study the
impact of globalization on families, thus maintaining its
cutting edge mission.
Some information courtesy of Roger Rubin, PhD, Family
Studies, University of Maryland.
Reference: Dail, P. W., & Jewson, R. H. (1986). In praise of fifty
years: The Groves conference on the conservation of marriage
and the family. Lake Mills, IA: Graphic.
pioneers
Jay Douglas Haley
Birth date and location
Jay Haley was born July 19, 1923 in Wyoming and died
in 2007.
Educational background
Jay Haley earned a BA in theater arts at the University
of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelors of library
science at Berkeley. He completed his masters in
communication at Stanford.
Contributions to the field
Together with Bateson and the other team members,
they developed the first purely communication/
interactional theory of human behavior, central to which
is the concept of the double bind. During this 10-year
collaboration, the Bateson team revolutionized for the
world the understanding of the relational and contextual
nature of behavior. They were among the first research
jays understanding of human behavior and how to bring
about constructive change left students in awe of his
knowledge and skill as a teacher.
teams to see the patient and other family members
in conjoint family therapy. Members of Batesons
Team published more than 70 professional papers,
two especially lucid examples are the groundbreaking,
Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia (Bateson, Jackson,
Haley & Weakland, 1956), and Haleys The Family
of the Schizophrenic: A Model System (1959). One of
the most significant aspects of research in the Bateson
group included the study of the hypnotic and clinical
work of Milton H. Erickson. Jay incorporated many
of Ericksons techniques into his own strategic therapy.
By editing and publishing Ericksons selected papers
(1967) followed by Uncommon TherapyThe Psychiatric
Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, MD (1973), it is Jay
who is largely responsible for introducing Erickson to
a wider audience. During the first decades of the field,
Jay was involved with many of the most important
developments in the field. In 1959, he was one of the
first members of the Bateson team to join Don Jackson
serving as director of research. In 1962, in collaboration
with Jackson and Nathan Ackerman, Jay helped found,
and for the first decade, was first editor of the journal
Family Process. In 1967, he left MRI to join Salvador
Minuchin and Braulio Montalvo at another of the
most influential early family centers, The Philadelphia
Child Guidance Center. In 1975,
Jay co-founded, with then wife
and fellow family therapy pioneer,
Clo Madanes, The Family Therapy
Institute of Washington, DC,
where he continued teaching and
developing his Strategic Family
Therapy Approach until the early
1990s, when he retired and moved back to La Jolla, CA.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
In 1952, while a student in communication at Stanford
University in Palo Alto, California, Jay met Gregory
Bateson, who invited him to join John Weakland,
William Fry, and later Don Jackson as a member of
Batesons renowned research team, widely known as the
Palo Alto Group.
How this work is being carried on today
Jay Haley minimized his own contributions and
emphasized what he learned from his mentors, Milton
Erickson, Gregory Bateson, Don Jackson, his career-
long friend and colleague, John Weakland, Salvador
Minuchin, Braulio Montalvo and others. Yet, when in
his presence, Jays understanding of human behavior and
how to bring about constructive change left students in
awe of his knowledge and skill as a teacher. Like his close
colleagues, Weakland and Jackson, Jay did not believe
in individual achievement, as the term is commonly
understood. Rather than individuals existing in isolation,
he saw behavior in context and patterns of interaction of
which individual behavior is a part. If there is a change
in patterns of interaction, the individual behavior
changes, too. Jay was central in establishing a radically
alternative way of understanding human behavior, as a
product of an interaction, taking place in the present
moment between people in an intimate relationship with
one another. He also committed himself to demystifying
the practice of therapy, contributing some of the most
widely read and clearest books, articles, and training
videotapes available in the field (Haley, 1963, 1976, 1980).
Wendel A. Ray, PhD, and Karin Schlanger, MFT. See page
60 for references and author information.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 35
family therapy
Lynn Hoffman
Birth date and location
Lynn Hoffman was born in
1924 to American parents in
Paris, France.
Educational background
Lynn earned her MSW at
Adelphi School of Social Work
in 1971.
Contributions to the field
Lynn Hoffman is an
internationally known lecturer on family therapy and
author of Techniques of Family Therapy (with Jay Haley,
1969); Foundations of Family Therapy (1981); Milan
Systemic Family Therapy (with Boscolo, Cecchin, and
Penn, 1987); Exchanging Voices, and Family Therapy:
An Intimate History (2002). From 1963 to 1965, Lynn
began working as an editor for Don Jackson at MRI.
While there, she met Satir, Haley, Sluzki, Weakland,
and Fisch. Lynn helped Satir edit her book, Conjoint
Family Therapy. After completing her MSW, Lynn went
to work at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic,
where Minuchin was developing his structural approach
to family therapy. Lynn put together some training
tapes based on sessions with families of anorectic
children. Harry Aponte was her supervisor, and the pair
co-authored an article. Aponte occasionally invited Lynn
to attend when he presented workshops, and this led to
Lynns own workshop career. Lynn also did a stint as staff
historian for the Applied Behavioral Sciences Program at
Gouverneur Health Services on New Yorks Lower East
Side. Using an ecosystems model, the late psychiatrist
Auerswald had designed a multi-disciplinary family
health team, and a mobile crisis unit that responded
to calls from within the community 24 hours a day.
Beginning in 1978, Lynn joined the teaching staff of
the Ackerman Institute in New York, and worked on
the Brief Strategic Therapy Project headed by Papp
and Silverstein. Here, Lynn encountered the Milan
team at a workshop and subsequently formed a Milan-
style team of her own that included Penn, Patten and
Walker. Beginning in 1982, Lynn became part of an
informal network of Milan teams. This network spun
off a number of new innovators like White, Andersen,
Tomm, and Penn. In l983, Lynn began teaching at
36 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
the Brattleboro Institute of Family Therapy, where she
was influenced by the reflecting team approach and
began to explore its dimensions, not only for therapy,
but for teaching, consulting and workshops. During her
nearly 40 years in the field, Lynn has led or taken part
in hundreds of workshops and conferences in the U.S.,
Canada, South and Central America, the UK, Europe,
Australia and Japan. In 1988, she was awarded the Life
Achievement Award for Distinguished Contribution to
the Field of Family Therapy by the AAMFT.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Indeed working among the family therapy giants at
MRI provided much influence, but also, Lynn describes
her work at Gouverneur Health Services as being very
enlightening. Auerswalds work recognized that both the
providers and those they treated are embedded in social
networks. Rather than seeking diagnoses, Auerswald
relied on the strength to be found in peoples natural
connections.
How this work is being carried on today
In 1994, Lynn designed a collaborative conference in
Northampton called New Voices in Human Systems.
Her intention was to bring therapists, organizational
consultants and social scientists together to discuss the
implications of postmodernism for their respective fields.
She also began to attend international conferences that
brought her to countries like Greece, Japan, England,
Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, Austria, Holland and Australia.
She continues to travel and be a relevant figure in the
field of family therapy.
during her nearly 40 years
in the field, lynn has led or
taken part in hundreds of
workshops and conferences
in the u.s., canada, south
and central america, the uk,
europe, australia and japan.
pioneers
Don D. Jackson
Birth date and location
Don D. Jackson was born in 1920 in Oakland,
California, and died in 1968.
Educational background
Don Jackson earned his MD from Stanford Medical
School. During his studies, Don was challenged by the
lack of competent guidance that resulted when most of
the qualified clinical faculty were away, serving in the
military during World War II. Turning to the library,
Don found the analytic system of psychiatry made sense
to him, finding the use of symbolic interpretations
in insight-oriented work to have miraculous results
(Jackson, 1962). Don also trained under the tutelage of
Harry Stack Sullivan.
Contributions to the field
Clinical supervisor of Bateson, Haley, Weakland, Fry,
and Yalom, among others, many of Dons supervisees
would become the first generation of systemic
family theorists and therapists. The first clinician to
uncompromisingly maintain a higher order cybernetic
and constructivist position in the actual practice
of therapy, the essence of Dons model is that the
client is seen as a family-surrounded individual with
real problems in the present day (Jackson, 1967).
Brief in orientation, the primary focus, questions
asked, assignments and tasks given, is always on
the relationship between members of the family.
Acknowledged as the principle founder of Interactional
Theory and Conjoint Family Therapy, Don was rated
one of the top 10 psychiatrists in America in the late
1960s, just before his untimely death at the age of 48.
He is remembered as having been a brilliant therapist,
teacher, and for his leading part in the development
of such groundbreaking theoretical concepts as family
homeostasis, family rules, relational quid pro quo, and,
with Bateson, Weakland, and Haley, the theory of the
double bind. Don was one of the most prolific authors
of his time, publishing more than 125 articles and book
chapters and seven books, including two classic texts
that remain in print today, Mirages of Marriage (with
don had a quickness and a lightness in touch that is I think very important
in handling problems of human behavior he was historically a very important
person. his original paper on family homeostasis was certainly one of the first,
perhaps the first major statement about the family as a system.
-gregory bateson, 1970.
Photo courtesy of MRI.
William Lederer), and Pragmatics
of Human Communication (with
Watzlawick and Beavin Bavelas).
Don founded the Mental Research
Institute in 1959, and created the
first family therapy training program
funded by the U. S. Government, hiring Satir to be the
first director of training. With Ackerman and Haley,
Don founded the fields first journal, Family Process.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Don served as a psychiatrist at the Menlo Park Veterans
Hospital, fortuitously leading to his meeting Bateson,
who asked Don to join him, Haley, Weakland, and Fry
in the now infamous Bateson Research Team. During
the first year, Don found the traditional prohibition
against contact with a patients family members difficult
in the then small town of Palo Alto, leading him to
articulate the concept of family homeostasis, and to see
patients and family members together, an approach he
named conjoint family therapy.
How this work is being carried on today
Dons contributions permeate most systemically-
oriented family and brief therapy approaches.
Theoretical premises introduced by Don and colleagues
continue to serve as fundamental premises underlying
the brief therapy model developed after his death at the
MRI; the strategic work of Haley and his colleagues;
the structural model developed by Minuchin and his
colleagues; the work of the Milan team; the solution
focused brief therapy approach of deShazer, Berg and
associates at the Brief Therapy Center of Milwaukee; the
work of Keeney and colleagues; the work of Andersen;
and even as a point of departure to react against by most
post-modern narrative orientations of Anderson and
Goolishian; Hoffman and White, as well as most other
systemically and contextually oriented approaches
Wendel A. Ray, PhD, and Karin Schlanger, MFT.
See page 60 for references and author information.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 37
family therapy
Neil Scott Jacobson
Birth date and location
Neil Jacobson was born in 1949
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
died in 1999.
Educational background
Neil completed his PhD in
clinical psychology at the
University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill in 1977, and did his internship at Brown
University.
Contributions to the field
Neil Jacobson made major contributions in three
separate, substantive areas of psychology. At the time of
his death, he had major research grants and had made
major contributions to couple therapy, treatment for
depression, and domestic violence. In couple therapy,
he had written the definitive treatment manual for
traditional behavioral couple therapy, had evaluated this
treatment, and had, with Andrew Christensen, created
and evaluated a major modification of this treatment,
namely Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy. In
the area of depression treatment research, he had
challenged the major treatment in the area (cognitive
therapy) and elaborated and evaluated an alternative
treatment, Behavioral Activation. For domestic violence,
he had provided evidence about the kind of men who
perpetuate violence against women and had successfully
lobbied couple therapists to regularly evaluate violence
and take it seriously. In addition to his work in these
substantive areas, he made methodological contributions
in the analysis and promotion of clinical significance as
a metric with which to evaluate clinical success and in
the design of clinical trials in psychotherapy research.
Finally, he trained a large number of therapists and
students in couple therapy, depression treatment, and in
the conduct of clinical research. For more information,
see the June 2, 2000 issue of Prevention and Treatment
(http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/toc-
jun02-00.html).
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
During graduate school, Neil became interested in
couple therapy and was influenced by the pioneering
work of Patterson, Stuart, and Weiss. At the University
of North Carolina during graduate school, Neil and
38 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
he successfully lobbied couple
therapists to regularly evaluate
violence and take it seriously.
Barclay Martin (1976) produced the first authoritative
review of behavioral couple therapy and conducted one
of the first clinical trials of the approach (Jacobson,
1977). For more detail, refer to Virginia Rutters article
(www.afta.org/newsletter/79/page11.html) or the 1993
Family Therapy News article on Neil S. Jacobson.
How this work is being carried on today
Neils work on couple therapy is carried on by
innumerable clinicians who were influenced by his
workshops and writings, and his treatment manuals
on Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) are
still popular today (Jacobson & Christensen, 1998;
Christensen & Jacobson, 2000). Neils major clinical
trial on this treatment is being carried on by his
collaborator, Andrew Christensen, at UCLA, and various
colleagues. Other studies on IBCT are being planned or
carried out at Duke University, the University of Iowa,
Texas A&M, and in foreign countries, such as Sweden.
Similarly, Neils work on depression is being carried
on by innumerable clinicians who were influenced by
his training and writing. His major clinical trial on
behavioral activation was recently published by Sona
Dimidjian et al. at the University of Colorado. A self-
help manual was recently published by former colleagues
Addis and Martell (2004). Studies are underway to
extend behavioral activation to other populations, such
as for adolescent depression and for veterans with both
PTSD and depression. Neils influence on domestic
violence can be seen in the current standard of care
for couple therapy, which includes an evaluation of
violence. His book on violence against women (Jacobson
& Gottman, 1998) is still cited today. His research
directions are carried on by a number of researchers,
but perhaps most clearly by Amy Holtzworth-Monroe
at Indiana University. Finally, Neils influence on the
methodology of clinical trials can be seen in the near
universal acceptance of his clinical significance metric as
a way of evaluating outcome.
Written by Andrew Christensen, PhD, and Neils wife,
Virginia Rutter, PhD.
pioneers
Monica McGoldrick
Birth date and location
Monica McGoldrick was born in Brooklyn in 1943 and
later raised on a farm in Pennsylvania.
Educational background
Monica earned a BA in Russian studies, an MA in
Russian studies at Yale University, and an MSW from
Smith College School of Social Work. She also holds an
honorary PhD from Smith College.
Contributions to the field
Monica has been committed to the contribution of new
knowledge in the MFT world for over 35 years. She has
furthered knowledge and shaped the field in the areas
of family development, the family life-cycle, Bowenian
therapy, genograms, gender in families, multicultural
development, including ethnicity, race, class, and in
grief and loss. She is the director and developer of the
Multicultural Family Institute, the only one of its kind
in the field of family therapy. The Institute provides
training, service, and written materials that are at the
leading edge of the field of cultural factors in marriage
and family therapy. She also serves as an adjunct
associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the UMDNJ-
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, a position she
has held for many years. She has been a visiting professor
at Fordham University, and on faculty at the Family
Institute of Westchester and the Center for Family
Learning in New York. Monica has also maintained
a private clinical practice for over 30 years. Monicas
largest contribution to family therapy may well be her
writings, which have influenced countless numbers
of both experienced therapists, as well as trainees over
many years. She has published over thirty articles and
seven books, two of which have multiple editions.
Monicas work in Family Life Cycle and Ethnicity and
Family Therapy have become both standards and classics
in the field. Add to these Living Beyond Loss, Genograms:
Assessment and Intervention, and Re-visioning Family
Therapy: Race, Culture, and Gender in Clinical Practice,
and you have part of the essential library for family
therapists today. Monica has served on numerous
editorial boards and presented at workshops in the U.S.
and abroad.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Psychologists and psychiatrists at the
mental health center where Monica
worked early in her career seemed
to have little if any interaction with
patients. She soon discovered that
social work might be a better pursuit
for her, as it would be more hands on. She eventually
saw patients when families came to visit, and she realized
this was when you learned the most about the patient.
Working at the Yale-New Haven Hospital unit, a very
family oriented center, Monicas work began to turn
in the direction she had wanted. In 1972, she would
hear a presentation by Murray Bowen, where one of his
students would offer Monica a position in his family
institute (Wyatt, 2006).
How this work is being carried on today
Genograms are widely used today, not only in family
therapy, but also in the medical field, social work,
psychiatry, psychology, etc. Under Monicas guidance,
the Multicultural Family Institute is a thriving center
offering conferences, seminars and training programs, as
well as consultation to schools and agencies and clinical
services to individuals and families. The faculty and
affiliates are known internationally for their training
and contributions to family therapy theory and practice;
especially for their efforts to expand the boundaries
of systems thinking to address issues of social justice
and equity. They have made many contributions to
issues of culture and race, multicultural families, issues
for men and women in families, class, and life cycle
issues, including untimely and traumatic loss, couple
relationships, divorce, child custody, remarriage, child,
sibling and adolescent problems, caretaking of aging
and ill family members and issues of family conflict and
cutoff (Multicultural Family Institute, 2008).
References: Wyatt, R. C. (2006). An interview with Monica
McGoldrick. Psychotherapy.net. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from
http://www.psychotherapy.net/interview/Monica_McGoldrick.
Multicultural Family Institute Web site. (2008). Retrieved July 30,
2008, from www.multiculturalfamily.org.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 39
family therapy
Salvador Minuchin
Birth date and location
Salvador Minuchin was born in 1921 in
Argentina.
Educational background
Salvador Minuchin graduated medical
school in 1946 in Argentina and
began his residency in pediatrics with a subspeciality in
psychiatry. In 1950, he studied psychiatry in New York as
a psychiatric resident.
Contributions to the field
Sal Minuchin developed Structural Family Therapy, an
approach which focuses on the dysfunctional structural
organization of the family. The therapist tries to disrupt
dysfunctional relationships within the family, and cause
them to settle back into a healthier pattern. Sals style has
been described as forceful and intense, but in a manner
that communicates respect for family members, as well
as self-confidence. He has spent his career working on
behalf of the poor and ethnically underprivileged. He
began early on to change the language of therapy to
that program changed the lives of many people, and, for the
first time, their work was multicultural in a broad sense.
make it relevant to families. Populations considered
unreachable needed a change in traditional ways of
communicating. Sal took this perspective with him to
the Child Guidance Clinic in Philadelphia, to work with
the marginalized welfare population in the black ghetto
of South Philadelphia. In the 70s, Sal and colleagues
developed training programs in which family therapists
were sent to different institutions in Pennsylvania
to help them shift the focus of their interventions
from individuals to families. They also trained
paraprofessionals, drawn from the neighborhood. Some
did not even have a high school education, and they
became competent family therapists. That program
changed the lives of many people, and, for the first time,
their work was multicultural in a broad sense. In New
York, Sal would direct his efforts at changing institutions
that provided services for poor and marginalized
populations. During this time, a training manual for
foster parents was written which was widely used around
the nation (discussed in Working with Families of the
Poor by Minuchin, Minuchin and Colapinto). His
group also initiated a program for pregnant women
who were drug addicted and under treatment at NYU
40 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
hospital, which included the families, focusing on
life issues, as well as addiction. Sal has contributed
to numerous professional journals and coauthored
numerous books, many of which explore the effects of
poverty and social systems on families.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
In 1951, Sal co-directed residential institutions for
disturbed children in Israel. Here, he began to work
with groups instead of individuals. Later, Sal trained at
the William Alanson White Institute of Psychoanalysis
in New York, where the ideas of Harry Stack Sullivan
(interpersonal psychiatry) were supported. As he was
training, he began practicing at the Wiltwyck School
for Boys. Gradually, he began to feel that he needed to
see a clients family for effectiveness (Encyclopedia of
Psychology, 2008). It should also be noted that Braulio
Montalvo is widely recognized as a gifted therapist and a
close associate of Minuchins, working with him both at
Wiltwyck and Philadelphia Child Guidance.
How this work is being carried on today
The Minuchin Center for the Family provides structural
family therapy training to individuals, and systemic
consultations to organizations, working with couples and
families who have been marginalized due to racism, socio-
economic conditions and/or sexual orientation. Using the
concepts of structural family therapy, the Center educates
family therapists to work with these critically underserved
populations (Minuchin Center for the Family, 2006).
Some Information excerpted from Journal of Marital and
Family Therapy, April 1987 (Laurie Heatherington), and
Family Therapy Magazine, January/February 2003.
References: Minuchin Center for the Family (2006). About us.
Retreieved July 10, 2008, from http://www.minuchincenter.org/
aboutus.php#h.
Encyclopedia of Psychology (2008). Minuchin, Salvador (1921- ).
bNET. Retrieved July 10, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/
articles/mi_g2699/is_0005/ai_2699000553.
pioneers
Emily Borie Hartshorne Mudd
Birth date and location
Emily Hartshorne Mudd was born in 1898 in Marion,
Pennsylvania, and died in 1998.
Educational background
Emily attended Vassar, but during WWII, established
a program to help maintain crops. She drank out of
an infected well and caught Typhoid fever and could
not go back to Vassar. She then attended a landscape
architecture school in Groton, Massachusetts, where she
met her husband, Dr. Stuart Mudd, who was studying
at the Harvard Medical School. She received her MA
in social work in 1936 and her PhD in 1950 from the
University of Pennsylvania.
Contributions to the field
In the 1920s, Emily helped establish Philadelphias first
birth control clinic. It has been noted that this endeavor
was her fondest and proudest. It was against the law
to prescribe contraception, or dispense information
on contraception, but she was protected by another
lawshe was pregnant and could not be arrested.
In 1932, Emily established the Marriage Council of
Philadelphia. In 1950, the Council became a national
center for training and research in human relationships,
and eventually became the Division of Family Study
in the Department of Psychiatry, University of
Pennsylvania. Emily was advanced immediately to
the rank of full professor, as the rst female professor
in Penns medical school. Emily was propelled by her
academic productivity, publishing credits and the
innovation of her programs. As there was previously no
tradition of marriage counseling, this Division became
a prototype. Emily also became very involved with
patients in the Obstetrical and Gynecologic Clinics of
the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1975,
she co-published a paper on counseling and patient
interaction in regard to teen pregnancy. Throughout
her life, Emily remained focused on the needs of the
less fortunate and the harsh realities of economic
disadvantage, especially as it pertained to reproductive
healthcare. William Masters said of Emily: More
emily mudd encouraged and helped shape the field of marriage
and family life education and was among the first to address the
dimension of sexuality as a vital factor in family life care.
than anyone else, Emily Mudd
encouraged and helped shape the
eld of marriage and family life
education and was among the rst to
address the dimension of sexuality as
a vital factor in family life care.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
In Philadelphia, Emily Mudd became more and more
involved in community activities. Around 1929, she was
part of the establishment of the Maternal Health Center,
the rst family-planning program in the Philadelphia
area. It was here that the connection became clear
between poverty and birth control issues. This led to
an interest in counseling techniques and preventive
medicine that remained with Emily throughout
her career. Emily saw early on the serious need for
relationship assistance, not just medical interventions.
In 1972, Emily was appointed by Governor Shaft as
co-chair of the Pennsylvania Abortion Law Commission.
She further became interested in family-based
interventions while working on the Commission and
helped establish a place where couples could get help, as
well as individuals.
How this work is being carried on today
The legacy of the Marriage Council has had a major
impact on the field and was transformed into the vital
center that exists for training and study today. Further,
the report of the Abortion Law Commission had a
significant national impact on abortion legislation. The
Stuart and Emily Mudd Professorship serves as a hub
for an expanding interdisciplinary program, still one of
the few such efforts in the United States in the elds
of family relations, human reproduction, and social
interaction.
Information courtesty of Emily Mitchell
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 41
family therapy
Mara Selvini Palazzoli
Birth date and location
Mara Selvini Palazzoli was born
in Italy in 1916 and died in
1999.
Educational background
Mara Selvini Palazzoli, MD,
studied internal medicine in
Italy, but ultimately decided to pursue psychiatry in
Switzerland.
Contributions to the field
Mara is best known as the leader of the Milan group,
a team of four psychiatrists (including Luigi Boscolo,
Gianfranco Cecchin and Giuliana Prata) in Milan,
Italy, who conducted clinical exploratory research with
families with psychotic patients in the early 1970s.
Their work is generally referred to as the Milan systemic
approach. The group initially borrowed from American
family therapy pioneers, like Bateson and the MRI
group, but would later become some of the foremost
educators in the field world wide. A good deal of their
work focused on anorexia and schizophrenia, with
therapists working in teams and using one-way mirrors
to achieve objectivity. Mara made major contributions
to the field in the understanding of transactional
patterns in families with an anorexic member. She also
focused on the effects of the invariant prescription in
generating a typology of family games by studying the
responses of different families to the same therapeutic
intervention. Paradox and Counterparadox, available
in the U.S. in the late 70s, was read world wide and
gives one of the most comprehensive accounts of the
groups work. Maras book, Self-starvation, was also
available in 1978. Mara was a 1985 recipient of the
AAMFTs Distinguished Contribution to Research in
Family Therapy award. In fact, she was very dissatisfied
with the level of research in the field and advocated
for more research, stating that it is an absolutely vital
component of family therapy. Thus, she separated from
her colleagues in 1980 and founded a private practice in
order to do intensive research with family therapy as the
methodology.
42 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Mara had a strong interest in a disorder seen in Italy
after World War II, anorexia nervosa. Believing it to
be an emotional disorder, she decided to treat it with
traditional psychoanalytic methods. But after much
frustration, she traveled to the U.S. in the late 60s to
learn about family therapy and returned to Italy to
incorporate these ideas into her team for treatment of
anorexia and schizophrenia. Mara also had an innate
curiosity about human behavior. She would observe
people surrounding her quite intently and wondered
about their professional lives, educational backgrounds
and family lives. Her interest in focusing on research
in family therapy was stirred in 1978 by Italys decision
to close all of its mental health hospitals. Instead, they
developed district psychiatric centers which were not
hospital centers but consultation centers. In those
centers teams were assigned to deal with families that
came in with a psychotic member. The results were
disastrous because many of the teams were not capable
of working with families with a psychotic member or of
stopping a psychotic crisis. At this point Mara decided
to conduct research to develop a model that would make
dealing with those families easier for therapists.
How this work is being carried on today
Some of the major concepts emerging from, or advanced
by, the Milan Group which greatly influenced the
field are circularity, hypothesis building and curiosity,
psychotic family games, and time. Maras work, along
with the rest of the team, was described by James A.
Marley in Family Involvement in Treating Schizophrenia
(2003) as raising the art of asking good questions
almost to a science. Although the Milan groups stance
on neutrality drew some criticism from those in the field
who felt it was too distancing, their work and the Milan
systemic approach has had a major and far reaching
impact on the field. Today, the Post-Milan approach is
an amalgam of the original concepts blended with new
techniques.
Information excerpted from Family Therapy News, May/June
1985 and September/October 1986.
pioneers
Peggy Bennion Papp
Birth date and location How this work is being
Peggy Papp was born in 1923 in Salt Lake City, Utah. carried on today
Peggy is currently a senior
Educational background faculty member of the
Peggy earned her MSW at Hunter College, School of Ackerman Institute for
Social Work, New York City. the Family, and founder
and director of Ackermans
Contributions to the field Depression and Gender
Gender-focused research and dialogue have long Project. In this project,
been at the center of attention in the marriage and a model was created
family therapy field. The origin of these discussions that recognized the role
can be traced back roughly 35 years to a time when gender plays in depression.
the pioneers of family therapy started to question the A multi-dimensional
gender assumptions inherent in our society. In the treatment approach
1970s, Peggy helped call attention to the number of is practiced that takes into account the biological,
publications that blamed mothers for every kind of psychological, cultural and interpersonal aspects of
problem. Mothers were blamed for schizophrenia, incest, depression. The family is seen as an essential part of the
domestic violence, and sexual harassment, just to name recovery and is involved in the treatment process. In
a few. Peggy has continued to be a key participant in addition to her Ackerman affiliation, Peggy has a private
this evolution of ideas about gender and power, and practice in family therapy in New York City.
often took part in the initial debates, and continues to
do so today. She is an internationally renowned therapist Some information courtesy of the Ackerman Institute for
and author of numerous articles and books on family the Family, New York, NY. Also from Family Therapy
therapy, including The Process of Change, considered a Magazine, July/August 2002.
classic in the field; co-author of the landmark book, The
Invisible Web: Gender Patterns in Family Relationships; Reference: Minuchin, S., & Fishman, H. C. (1981). Family
and editor of Couples on the Faultline: New Directions therapy techniques. Harvard University Press.
for Therapists. She has presented extensively in the
U.S., Europe, South America, China and Israel. She is
recognized for her many innovative contributions to
family therapy, including family sculpting and the use of
themes and belief systems. She was the recipient of the peggy helped call attention to
AAMFTs Lifetime Achievement Award and has been the number of publications that
honored by the American Family Therapy Academy for
her pioneering work on The Womens Project for Family blamed mothers for every kind
Therapy (with Marianne Walters, Olga Silverstein and of problem. mothers were blamed
Betty Carter).
for schizophrenia, incest,
Influences leading to interest in domestic violence, and sexual
family-based interventions
Peggy and Olga Silverstein began a program using harassment, just to name a few.
paradox in 1974, working with families of symptomatic
children (Minuchin and Fishman, 1981).
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 43
family therapy
Virginia Satir
Birth date and location
Virginia Satir was
born June 26, 1916 in
Neillsville, Wisconsin,
and died in 1988.
Educational background
Virginia earned a BA in
education in 1936. In
1948, she received an MA
in social work from the
Northwestern University in Chicago.
Contributions to the field
Virginia Satir is one of the most common names in the
annals of family therapy. During her early professional
years, she was part of a small group, including others
such as Ackerman and Bowen, who made family therapy
a major alternative to the existing therapeutic systems.
A teacher who carried her message around the world,
Virginia is often referred to as the Columbus of family
therapy. Her books, Conjoint Family Therapy (1964)
and Peoplemaking (1972), are two of the central texts
in the field. She developed the Satir Growth Model,
a teacher who carried her message around the world, virginia
is often referred to as the columbus of family therapy.
a comprehensive set of beliefs, methods, tools, and
experiential exercises that support positive change
in individuals, family systems, organizations and
communities. In 1958, Virginia joined Don Jackson
in founding the Mental Research Institute (MRI)
in Palo Alto, California. Her major contributions to
family therapy include: introduction and promotion of
conjoint family therapy into the mainstream of therapy
practices; bringing a process approach to therapy that
gave a major alternative to content and problem-solving
approaches; providing a health focus to therapy by
promoting a view of the world and of people that builds
on possibilities, internal resources, personal choice, and
self worth; developing a three-generational approach to
family therapy that has major transformational results;
using experiential learning as a dependable and viable
mode for change; promoting and developing the use
of right hemisphere interventions such as humor,
meditation, trance, touch, voice tone, and affect;
putting focus on the therapist, instead of any specific
44 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
techniques, as the major change agent; developing a way
of changing dysfunctional communication patterns to
healthy patterns; expounding transformational approach
that works at various levels of peoples internal process,
such as yearning, expectations, perceptions, feelings, and
coping reactions; and providing hope for thousands of
clients and therapists that change is possible.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
From the beginning, Virginia was curious about
relational communications. She once explained that
there had been too many contradictions in her life
that she did not understand. Her mother would cry
but claim that nothing was wrong. Her father would
look and act frustrated and anxious but say he was
happy. Early on she was considered a maverick in
her field work and it wasnt long before she launched
her own independent therapy career. In 1951, seeing
many severely dysfunctional individuals for whom her
training and experience had not prepared her, she began
to develop new approaches based on the needs of the
individuals and her own intuitive creativity.
Interactional View of human behavior are profound,
How this work is being carried on today
Her greatest impact was through her many workshops,
demonstrations, month-long training institutes, and her
modeling of congruency and belief in human beings.
Her last few books established her not only as a master
family therapist and innovator, but also as the founder
and developer of a major, comprehensive family therapy
system that can be practiced and taught by others than
herself. Her techniques have been developed to the point
that they are used in the office work of family therapists,
as well as in therapy sessions with individual clients. Her
tools of sculpting and reframing are used today by many
other systems. Her legacy includes the formation of the
Satir Institute and the Satir International Summer Institute,
known today as the Satir Institute of the Rockies.
Excerpted from Family Therapy News, September/October
1988, John Banmen, EdD.
pioneers
Paul Watzlawick
Birth date and location
Paul Watzlawick was born in Villach, Austria in 1921,
and died in 2007.
Educational background
Paul Watzlawick received his doctorate in 1949 from
the University of Venice (C Foscari) in philosophy and
modern languages. He then trained at the Carl Jung
Institute in Zrich.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
After teaching for a year at the University of El Salvador
School of Psychology and Medicine, while traveling
back to Europe a fortuitous event occurredPaul met
Don Jackson. In the late 1960s, he joined the Research
Associates at the Mental Research Institute (MRI). He
fully embraced the radically alternative, interaction-
focused conceptualization of behavior, studying this view
under the direct tutelage of the three founding thinkers:
Don D. Jackson, Gregory Bateson, and Milton H.
Erickson.
Contributions to the field
Paul Watzlawick is among the best known figures in
the fields of communication and constructivist theory,
family and brief therapy. His contributions to the
promotion and exaggerated importance have become
many, and among the most influential and widely
read. Paul published some of the most influential
publications in communication/interactional theory,
such as Pragmatics of Human CommunicationA Study of
Interactional Patterns, Pathologies, and Paradoxes (1967,
with Janet Beavin Bavelas and Don Jackson); in the area
of constructivism he published How Real is Real and The
Invented Reality; and in Brief Therapy, Change: Principles
of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution (with John
Weakland and Richard Fisch); and The Language of
Change, as lucid examples.
his contributions to the interactional view of human behavior are
profound, many, and among the most influential and widely read.
How this work is being
carried on today
Paul devoted his life to
teaching, mentoring
generations of therapists,
researchers, and teachers.
This is among his most
durable legaciesthe
number of students
(many now leaders in
brief therapy) who look
upon Paul Watzlawick
as their mentor. Along
with his career-long
collaborators Weakland and Fisch, Paul pioneered the
application of interactional/communication principles
in the practice of brief therapy. Out of this collaboration
came one of the clearest and most influential brief
therapy orientations, MRI Brief Therapy (e.g., Brief
Therapy: Focused Problem Resolution, 1974) written with
colleagues Weakland, Fisch, and Art Bodin, and the
influential ChangePrincipals of Problem Formation and
Problem Resolution, 1974, by Watzlawick, Weakland,
and Fisch. For more than 45 years, Paul did not waiver
from the basic tenets of Interactional View. He authored
more than 150 scientific papers and 22 books that
are translated in 80 languages. In an era when self-
commonplace, it is impressive that the curriculum
vitae of this extraordinarily accomplished man was one
page in length. Paul stands comfortably among such
giants as Gregory Bateson, Heinz von Foerster, and
Ludwig Wittgenstein, in the fields of Communication-
Interactional Theory and Constructivist Theory. His
contributions stand equally comfortable among the
pioneers of brief therapy as Don Jackson and Milton
Erickson.
Wendel A. Ray, PhD, and Karin Schlanger, MFT. See page
60 for references and author information.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 45
family therapy
John H. Weakland
Birth date and location
John Weakland was born
in 1919, and grew up in
Charleston, West Virginia.
He died in 1995.
Educational background
At age 15, John entered
Cornell University,
completing a degree in
chemical engineering. In the next few years, John
was partly responsible for the development of the
first method for mass-producing penicillin, and later
involved in developing the design of the catalytic cracker
of petroleum, still in use today, which heats crude
petroleum, breaking it down into gasoline and other
petroleum products.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Growing tired of chemical engineering, John turned to
the Princeton Library where he became interested in
the social sciences. Learning that Gregory Bateson was
teaching at Columbia University New School of Social
Sciences, and wanting to know more about the classes,
uncharacteristically, John telephoned Bateson. Hearing
that John was a chemical engineer, Bateson, who was
involved in the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics,
and having difficulty understanding a mathematical
equation, invited John to his home in Greenwich
Village to discuss mathematics. They were to become
lifelong friends, beginning a research collaboration that
eventually would blossom into the influential Bateson
Research Project. Abandoning chemical engineering
to study anthropology and sociology at Columbia
University under the tutelage of Ruth Benedict and
Margaret Mead, John was eventually led to field work
with Chinese communities in New York and San
Francisco, Navaho and Pueblo Indians, and later, native
communities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. teach and supervise trainees from his home, completing
Contributions to the field
With others at the Bateson Research Team, John
pioneered the application of communication theory
in understanding human behavior. He (1951; 1967)
insisted the study of human behavior concentrate
on directly observable interaction and avoid reliance
on inferences or constructs that are not observable.
46 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
Communication/Interactional theory posits that
communication occurring in the present among
members of the clients family is the most relevant source
of explanation for behavior. Focusing on how members
of a family affect one another, the team set forth double
bind theory (Bateson, Jackson, Haley & Weakland,
1956). The double bind is a continuous, pervasive
process that can occur in any intense relationship in
which the individuals involved feel it vitally important
to accurately interpret the meaning of the other. A
single, simple message never occurs and family members
frequently send incongruent messages. John was also
pivotal, with Haley, in introducing Milton Ericksons
hypnotherapy to a wider audience. Working with Don
Jackson, Jules Riskin, and Virginia Satir, he pioneered
the development of conjoint family therapy. Among
the first to apply interactional/systemic premises in
work with individuals, John contended that if one takes
seriously the interactional view, that problems occur in
the context of, and are maintained by, the behaviors of
other family members, then, it is not necessary to see the
whole family together in order to identify and interrupt
attempted solutions which maintain the problem.
In Counseling with Elders and Their Families, John
Weakland and John Herr (1979) pioneered the area of
marriage and family therapy with aging families. These
are but a few of Johns innovative contributions during
the Bateson research projects, and later at MRI. himself to teaching, supervision and extended family
How this work is being carried on today
What evolved out of the Bateson research projects,
then with Jackson, Satir, and Riskin at MRI in the
early studies of family interaction and conjoint family
therapy, and later in the work with Richard Fisch, Paul
Watzlawick and at the MRI Brief Therapy Center, is
nothing less than a paradigm shift in thinking about the
nature of the relationship between human beings and
their surrounding contexts. Even though progressively
more debilitated by a terminal illness, John continued to
his final book (Weakland & Ray, 1995) only weeks
before his death at age 76.
Wendel A. Ray, PhD, and Karin Schlanger, MFT. See page 60
for references and author information.
pioneers
Carl Whitaker
Birth date and location
Carl Whitaker was born in 1912 and died in 1995.
Educational background
Carl Whitaker, MD, trained in obstetrics and
gynecology at Syracuse University and performed his
psychiatry residency at Syracuse University Psychopathic
Hospital and a child guidance fellowship in Louisville,
Kentucky.
Contributions to the field
Carl invented as he went along, breaking new ground
for treating psychosis, working before rules were in
place. There was no orthodoxy, no political correctness,
no managed care. He taught that the person of the
therapist is the most important tool in therapy, and
that it is critical to know about transference and
countertransference, that intuition and spontaneity are
vital components of life for the therapist and families.
Carl was chair of the department of psychiatry at Emory
University in Atlanta from 1946 to 1955, where he came
up with the idea of co-therapy for schizophrenics. He
also co-developed the symbolic-experiential approach.
He helped establish the Atlanta Psychiatric Clinic, where
he remained in private practice from 1955 to 1964.
In 1965 he left to join the University of Wisconsins
psychiatric department. He retired in 1982, devoting
therapy consultations (or family reunions) with his
wife and co-therapist, Muriel VanderVeer Schram.
Carl was known as an advocate for co-therapy, and
supported live supervision and family treatment long
before such approaches became standard practice in
the family therapy field. Some of his works include The
Family Crucible (1978) co-written by Gus Napier, From
Psyche to System (1982) and The Midnight Musings of a
Family Therapist (1989). The child is the hub around
which Whitakers search for life and for hope revolved,
where he saw the familys development blocked in the
rigid wrapping of pathology. Even the most serious
symptomatic manifestations seemed to have little
relevance for Carl, who sought out the person and
not his or her behavior. Problematic behavior became
quickly transmuted by his use of relational imagery
and playful objects, working on the awareness of the
family within the individual. Carl also helped to develop
some of the first major professional meetings of family
therapists.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Carl learned early in his career
that he often was not able to
cure his patients with one-on-
one treatment. He eventually
decided to bring mom into the
examination room; if that didnt
help, next he would call dad in,
and so on. This was a radical
idea in its day and became something more than just a
medical exam. Carl felt that humans dont really exist as
individuals.
He saw the smallest component of human life as being
the family.
How this work is being carried on today
Carls life work and thoughts on the human condition
will continue to be appreciated by new generations of
family therapists. In the midst of endless models, new
approaches, and supertechniques, many will seek to
find human beings and their qualities in the real world
and not in the microscope. Whitakers legacy is sure to
be revalued and revered, even by those who kept their
distance during his lifetime, labeling him as bizarre and
irrational. Carl did not allow himself to be created into
a myth around his personality. He died without any
official disciples, but he trained a multitude of therapists
around the world, sometimes unbeknownst to them,
with the power of integrity and coherence. He taught
more about life than about techniques. He taught those
around him to search for self and spiritual essence,
through the experience of suffering and solitude.
Information excerpted from Family Therapy News, June
1995 and August 1995, and Journal of Marital and Family
Therapy, July 1996.
carl invented as he went along,
breaking new ground for
treating psychosis, working
before rules were in place. there
was no orthodoxy, no political
correctness, no managed care.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 47
 family therapy
Michael Kingsley White
Birth date and location
Photo by Jill Freedman
Michael White was born
December 29, 1948 in
Adelaide, South Australia,
and died in 2008.
Educational background
Michael earned his BA
in social work from the
University of South
Australia in 1979. In
1996, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of
Humane Letters from John F. Kennedy University,
Orinda, California.
Contributions to the field
Michael is considered by many to be one of the most
innovative practitioners of his generation. Together
with New Zealander David Epston, he developed
narrative therapy, which draws on the work of
postmodern philosophers such as Michel Foucault
and Jacques Derrida, and is a significant contribution
to psychotherapy and family therapy. Michael was a
practicing social worker and family therapist, co-director
of the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, South Australia, and
wrote several books of significance in the field of family
therapy and narrative therapy. Before his death, he set
up the Adelaide Narrative Therapy Centre. Michael
was known for his work with children and Indigenous
Aboriginal communities, as well as his work with
schizophrenia, anorexia/bulimia, male violence, and
trauma. Some therapeutic ideas developed by Michael
include externalizing the problem, re-authoring
the dominant stories of peoples lives, and the idea of
double-listening to accounts of traumanot only
the accounts of trauma itself, but how people have
responded to trauma. Instead of employing traditional
concepts of motivation, unconscious processes or
categories of psychological damage, this approach
proposes that we perceive our lives as a continuing series
of stories. By encouraging the recollection of significant,
forgotten details, it seeks to generate more nuanced
accounts of peoples lives, enabling them to consider
wider ranges of possibilities for the future.
48 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
Michael realized early in life that his major strength
was found in listening to people and putting them at
ease. He was also exposed early on to populations in
need when he worked as a probation welfare officer
and then as a psychiatric social worker in a childrens
hospital. Early influences included systems theory and
cybernetics; however, his main work drew on a range of
sources, including literary theory, cultural anthropology,
non-structuralist psychology, and French critical/post-
structuralist philosophy. Further, his family had a strong
influence on him, in particular, the females in his life
including his former wife Cheryl, daughter Penni, sisters
Suzanne and Julienne, and his mother Joan.
How this work is being carried on today
Michael continued developing narrative therapy with
Epston throughout the 1980s, and the international interest
in their work led to the publication of the widely translated
Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends (1990). Although
his work has become most usually associated with the
externalization of problems and the catchphrase the person
is not the problem; the problem is the problem, Michaels
community assignments perhaps best illustrated the social
and relational ethics of his work. These ventures forged new
connections within communities devastated by trauma,
through the telling and retelling of stories. The most recent
of these gatherings took place in 2007 at the invitation of
the indigenous Six Nations and also Caledonia communities
of Ontario, Canada. Two groups of 55 representatives
each came together to tell stories of long-standing violent
conflicts. Shared stories of longing for peace and of hopes for
changed lives for their children emerged from this process,
forming new foundations for working together in the future.
Looking to the future of narrative therapy, those left to
carry on Michaels work are currently operating as Narrative
Practices Adelaide, and they intend to support his vision to
establish a network of practitioners; provide therapy and
counseling services; offer training opportunities; provide
narrative skills workshops; narrative supervision; and expand
upon Michaels vision of using narrative practice in treating
men who use violence in their relationships.
Sources: Michael White by Jane Speedy and Martin Payne,
June 17, 2008, The Guardian. Additional information from
Wikipedia, Dulwich Centre, and Narrative Practices Adelaide.
pioneers
Lyman Carroll Wynne
Birth date and location
Lyman C. Wynne was born in Lake Benton, Minnesota
in 1923 and died in 2007.
Educational background
Lyman completed his medical degree studying psychiatry
at Harvard Medical School. After earning his MD,
he obtained his PhD from the Department of Social
Relations at Harvard.
Contributions to the field
Lyman Wynne was a renowned family therapy
pioneer and schizophrenia researcher. He set up the
first community mental health center in the country.
He then trained in neurology in London, psychiatry
residency in Boston, and more psychiatry residency
training in Washington, DC. From 1961 to 1971,
Lyman was chief of the adult psychiatry branch of
the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH). In
1971, he moved to the University of Rochester Medical
School where he became chair of the Department of
Psychiatry for six years. He continued as professor of
lymans professional life was devoted to understanding and alleviating the suffering of
patients with schizophrenia and related disorders, and the burdens that their family
members experienced.
psychiatry and as an active mentor to countless junior
faculty and fellows, even past his official retirement
in 1998 at the age of 75. Lymans professional life was
devoted to understanding and alleviating the suffering
of patients with schizophrenia and related disorders,
and the burdens that their family members experienced.
While at the NIMH, he recognized the concept of
communication deviance, which was found to be
associated with poor patient functioning. In 1960, he,
Pekka Tienari, and then Karl-Erik Wahlberg started
their 30-year Finnish adoption study of schizophrenia.
In his first years at the University of Rochester, Lyman
also conducted a longitudinal study of children at high
risk for schizophrenia and related disorders. Lyman
published nearly 200 journal articles and book chapters,
with the last two papers from his 30-year Finnish
adoption study of schizophrenia published in the
December 2006 issue of Family Process. He was prolific,
but he was also generative with others. He published
many articles with fellows and junior faculty, helping
launch the academic careers of many young scholars. All
during this time, he carried on a small but active family
therapy practice. Lyman was a consummate scholar,
researcher, and clinician. He was
involved in and provided
leadership in AFTA and in the
AAMFT, serving on the board of
directors. He received the 1986
Distinguished Contributions to
Family Therapy Award from the
AAMFT.
Influences leading to interest in
family-based interventions
In the 1950s and 1960s, Lyman worked across the hall
from Murray Bowen at NIMH. Others that joined
them there included Donald Bloch, Will Carpenter,
David Reiss, and Robert Ryder. It was in this setting
that Lyman first started seeing psychotic patients and
their families together. Patricia Sullivan reported in The
Washington Post on January 21, 2007, that, as early
as 1947, Dr. Wynne came up with the idea of treating
families as a unit, even when only one member was
diagnosed with schizophrenia.
How this work is being
carried on today
Lyman and his wife, Adele, endowed the Wynne Center
for Family Research, the research arm of the Wynne
Center for the Family, in the Department of Psychiatry
at the University of Rochester Medical Center. This
Center is a tribute to their life together promoting
healthy family functioning; it is a center that brings
scholars together to develop innovative approaches to
improve functioning in the face of chronic medical and
psychiatric problems. As a further tribute to the Wynnes,
the family therapy clinical services and family therapy
training programs are coming together with the family
research center at the University of Rochester to be
renamed the Wynne Center for the Family.
Most information from: Shields, C. G., & McDaniel, S.
H. (2007) Family therapy pioneer, researcher, and mentor:
Lyman C. Wynne, MD, PhD, 19232007. Journal of
Marital and Family Therapy, 33, #2, 132-133.
s e p t e m b e r o c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 49
family therapy pioneers
R eferences
Gianfranco Cecchin: References
Cecchin, G., Lane, G., & Ray, W. (1992). Vom
strategischen vorgehen zur nicht-intervention.
Familiendynamik, 3-18.
Cecchin, G., Lane, G., & Ray, W. (1993).
Irreverance: A strategy for therapist survival.
London: Karnac.
Cecchin, G., Lane, G., & Ray, W. (1994). The
cybernetics of prejudices in the practice of
psychotherapy. London: Karnac.
Cecchin, G., Lane, G., & Ray, W. (2006).
Exzentrizitt und intoleranz: Eine systemische kritik.
Zeitschrift fr Systemische Therapie und Beratung,
24 (3), 156-165.
Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G., Hoffman, L., & Penn, P.
(1987), Milan systemic family therapy. NY: Basic
Books.
Selvini-Palazzoli, M., Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G., &
Prata, G. (1978). Paradox and counterparadox: A
new model in therapy of the family in schizophrenic
transaction. New York Jason: Aronson.
Selvini-Palazzoli, M., Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G.,
& Prata, G. (1980). Hypothesizing-circularity-
neutrality: Three guidelines for the conductor of
the interview, Family Process, 19, 73-85.
Author Information: Wendel A. Ray, PhD, is the
Hammond Endowed Professor of Education and
professor of family system theory at The University
of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) marriage and family
therapy program, and a senior research associate
and former director of the Mental Research
Institute (MRI). Karin Schlanger, MFT, is a senior
research Fellow at the Mental Research Institute,
director of the MRI Brief Therapy Center, and
co-founder and director of the MRI Latino Brief
Therapy Center, Palo Alto, CA.
Don D. Jackson: References
Bateson, G. (1970). The first Don D. Jackson
memorial lecture. (Later published in Ray, W.
[2007]. Bateson Cybernetics: The basis of MRI Brief
Therapy, Kibernetics, 36 [7/8], 859-870).
Jackson, D. (1967). Aspects of conjoint family
therapy. In G. Zuk & I. Boszormenyi-Nag (Eds.),
Family therapy and disturbed families, pp. 28-40.
Palo Alto, CA: Science & Behavior Books.
Jackson, D. (1962). The question of insight in
promoting therapeutic change. A reel to reel audio
recording of a presentation by Don D. Jackson to
the staff of the Mental Research Institute, March 8,
1962. Palo Alto, CA: The Mental Research Institute
Ray, W. (Ed.) (2005). Don D. Jackson: Essays
from the dawn of an era, selected papers, Vol. 1.
Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker, &Theisan, Ltd.
Watzlawick, P., Beavin-Bavelas, J. & Jackson, D.
(1967). Pragmatics of human communication. NY:
Norton.
Author Information: See Author Information
under Gianfranco Cecchin.
60 f a m i l y t h e r a p y m a g a z i n e
and A uthor
Jay Douglas Haley: References
Bateson, G., Jackson, D., Haley, J., & Weakland,
J. (1956). Toward a theory of schizophrenia,
Behavioral Science, 1, (4) 251-264.
Haley, J. (1959). The Family of the schizophrenic:
A model system. Journal of Nervous & Mental
Disease, #129.
Haley, J. (1963). Strategies of psychotherapy, NY:
Grune & Stratton.
Haley, J. (Ed.), (1967). Advanced techniques of
hypnosis and therapy Selected papers of Milton
H. Erickson, MD, NY: Grune & Stratton.
Haley, J. (1973). Uncommon therapy: The
psychiatric techniques of Milton H. Erickson, NY:
Basic Books.
Haley, J. (1976). Problem solving therapy. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Haley, J. (1980). Leaving home The therapy of
disturbed young people. NY: McMillian.
Author Information: See Author Information
under Gianfranco Cecchin.
Paul Watzlawick: References
Watzlawick, P. (1964). An anthology of human
communication. Palo Alto, CA: Science & Behavior
Books. problem resolution. New York: WW Norton.
Watzlawick, P., Beavin-Bavelas, J., & Jackson, D.
(1967). Pragmatics of human communicationA
study of interactional patterns, pathologies and
paradoxes. New York: W. W. Norton.
Weakland, J., Fisch, R., Watzlawick, P., & Bodin, A.
(1974). Brief therapy: Focused problem resolution,
Family Process, 13, p. 141-168.
Watzlawick, P., Weakland, J., & Fisch, R. (1974),
Change: Principals of problem formation and
problem resolution. New York: W. W. Norton.
Watzlawick, P. (1976). How real is real. NY: WW
Norton.
Watzlawick, P. (1978) The language of change. NY:
WW Norton.
Watzlawick, P. (1984). (Ed.), The invented reality.
NY: WW Norton.
Ray, W. & Nardone, G. (2008) Paul Watzlawick
Insight may cause blindness and other essays.
Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker, Theisan, Ltd.
Author Information: See Author Information
under Gianfranco Cecchin.
I nformation
Richard Fisch: References
Fisch, R. (1965). Resistance to change in the
psychiatric community, Archives of General
Psychiatry, Vol. 13, Oct., 1965.
Fisch, R., (1965, Sept. 15). Proposal for a brief
therapy clinic and evaluation project. Unpublished
Memorandum, from Richard Fisch to Don Jackson,
5 pages.
Fisch, R., Weakland, J., Watzlawick, P., & Bodin,
A. (1972). On unbecoming family therapists. In A.
Ferber, M. Mendelson, & A. Napier, The book of
family therapy. New York: Science House, p. 597
617.
Fisch, R., Weakland, J., & Segal, L. (1982). The
tactics of changeDoing therapy briefly.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fisch, R., & Schlanger, R. (1999). Brief therapy with
intimidating cases-Changing the unchangeable.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fisch, R., & Ray, W. (Eds.), (2006). Special issue on
MRI brief therapy. Journal of Brief Therapy, 6, (1/2).
Weakland, J., Fisch, R., Watzlawick, P. & Bodin, A.
(1974a). Brief therapy: Focused problem resolution.
Family Process, 13, 141 168.
Watzlawick, P., Weakland, R., & Fisch, R. (1974b).
ChangePrincipals of problem formation and
Author Information: See Author Information
under Gianfranco Cecchin.
John H. Weakland: References
Bateson, G., Jackson, D., Haley, J., & Weakland,
J. (1956). Toward a theory of schizophrenia,
Behavioral Science, 1: 4; 251-264.
Fisch, R., Weakland, J., & Segal, L. (1982). Tactics
of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Herr, J., & Weakland, J. (1979). Counseling with
elders and their families. New York: Springer.
Watzlawick, P., Weakland, J., & Fisch, R. (1974).
Change. New York: WW Norton.
Watzlawick, P., & Weakland, J. (Eds.), (1977). The
interactional view. New York: WW Norton.
Weakland, J. (1951). Method in cultural
anthropology. Philosophy of Science, 18 (1), 55-69.
Weakland, J. (1967). Communication and behavior
- An introduction. In J. Weakland (Guest Editor),
Special issue, American Behavioral Scientist, 10:
8; 1-4.
Weakland, J., Fisch, R., Watzlawick, P., & Bodin, A.
(1974). Brief therapy: Focused problem resolution.
Family Process, 13: 2; 141-168.
Weakland, J., & Ray, W. (1995). Propagations
Thirty years of influence from the Mental Research
Institute. New York: Haworth Press.
Author Information: See Author Information
under Gianfranco Cecchin.