Historical Context
Freud

Implicit family influence
Jung

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Wholeness
Synthesis of opposites
Adler

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Behavior in context
Family structure
Really did a lot of family
therapy
Sullivan

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Personality inseparable
from interpersonal
Therapist as a part of
this (not “observer”)
Fromm-Reichman



Extended Sullivan
Schizophrenic Family
Therapy
“Schizophrenogenic
Mother” (1948)
Allport

Acknowledged
social/contextual nature
Lewin

Field Theory
Dewey and Bentley


Context
Relation of
observer/observed
Cybernetics (1940's)
Physics
Organization, patterns, processes

vs. matter, material, and content
Feedback mechanisms

Communication
WWII
Interdisciplinary approach
Man and machine together (as a
system)
Teleology - purposive behavior
Gregory Bateson (40's & 50's)
Anthropologist
Translated language of “science” into
social science and communication terms
Translated psychology into
communication terms
Gregory Bateson (2)
Communication Theory



Paradox
Logical types
Levels of communication
 Conflicted levels

Schizophrenia
 Schizophrenogenic mothers (communication)
 Double-bind hypothesis
 Key concept is that psychopathology is interpersonal, not
intrapsychic
Post WWII
Zeitgeist



Faith in science
Cybernetics (physics)
Systems theory (biology)
Lots of Support for Research


Think tank
Exploration/experimentation
Major Players and Ideas
Ackerman - “Grandfather of Family Tx”


Child and Mother
Role relationships
Bowen

Mother/child symbiosis
 Hospitalized BOTH!
 Then whole families
Whitaker



“Atheoretical” (very unorthodox)
“Experiencing with families”
Conference where local families brought in and demos done
The Stage Is Set
Previous thoughts and thinkers set
stage for formal articulation of theories
Paradigm Shift (60's)


Kuhn: Scientific Revolution
From People to “Schools”
Golden Years (‘70-85)
Centers
“Masters”
Separation
MRI (not really a school at
first)
Major players cycled through MRI

Bateson, Satir, Haley, Weakland, Jackson,
Fisch, others
Legitimized family therapy
Communication approaches
Strategic Family Therapy
Brief Treatment Program
Psychodynamic
Bowen
Boszormenyi-Nagy
Ackerman
Experiential/Existential
Whitaker (atheoretical)
Kempler (Gestalt)
Satir (humanistic) (warmest,
“feelingest”)
Structural School
Salvador Minuchin


Male juvenile delinquents
inner city, low income, ghetto
Structural family therapy
Strategic
Jay Haley
Milan Group



Milan Italy
Strategic approach, with a twist
Palazzoli, Boscolo, others
Additional Schools
Communications


MRI
Satir
Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral
Post Golden Years (1985 - ?)
Critiques
Social Constructionism
Integration



Pluralism
Theoretical Integration
Technical/Systematic Eclecticism
Sociology of Psychology
Fragmented ideas
Coming together of ideas
Unique Coherent Theory
Separation and Differentiation
Absorption
Multidisciplinary
Anthropology
Counseling
Demography
Economics
Education
History
Home Economics
Human Development
Law
Psychoanalysis
Psychology
Public Health
Religion
Social Work
Sociology