A Brief History of Family Therapy PSYC5790 Family Counseling: Theory and Practice

Historical Context Others: Horney, James, Barker, Goldstein Freud Jung Implicit family influence Jung Wholeness Synthesis of opposites Adler Behavior in context Family structure Really did a lot of family therapy Sullivan 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 Others: Horney, James, Barker, Goldstein

Cybernetics (1940's) Multiple Disciplines Physics, Math, etc. (initially hard sciences) 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 Lots of Support for Research Faith in science Cybernetics (physics) Systems theory (biology) Lots of Support for Research Think tank Exploration/experimentation

Nathan Ackerman Child psychoanalyst “Grandfather of family therapy” Family focus in treatment Child and mother Role relationships Home visits Still rather individual actually both Family Process Journal

Murray Bowen Psychoanalyst Mother/child symbiosis Hospitalized both! Then whole families Developed major theoretical approach

Carl Whitaker Psychiatrist “Atheoretical” (very unorthodox) “Experiencing with families” Conference where local families brought in and demos done “Psychotherapy of the absurd”

Theodore Lidz MD (psychiatrist) Schizophrenia, too Family role in disorder Development beyond childhood Attacked Freudian conceptualizations (did it well) Described marital dynamics schism and skew

Lyman Wynne Schizophrenia research Family importance Communication pseudomutuality pseudohostility Hospitalized families

Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy Hungarian psychoanalyst (MD) Founded family therapy department in Philadelphia (1957) Intergenerational focus “Ethical redefinition of the relational context”

John Bell [One of] the first doing family therapy Saw family as problem, not individual Used group dynamic stuff to conceptualize families (what other literature was there?)

Christian Midelfort Psychoanalyst Family therapist One of the first books on family therapy (1957)

Salvador Minuchin Argentinian child psychiatrist Wiltwyck School for Boys Juvenile delinquent boys Low income, inner city

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”

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

Golden Years (‘70-85) Centers “Masters” Separation

Psychodynamic Bowen Boszormenyi-Nagy Ackerman

Experiential/Existential Whitaker (atheoretical) Kempler (Gestalt) Satir (humanistic) (warmest, “feelingest”)

Structural School Salvador Minuchin Structural family therapy 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 Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral MRI Satir Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral

Post Golden Years (1985 - ?) Critiques Social Constructionism Integration Pluralism Theoretical Integration Technical/Systematic Eclecticism

Contemporary Themes Cultural sensitivity PTSD in all forms Including spirituality and religion PTSD in all forms Managed care Evidence-based practice Others

Sociology of Psychology Fragmented ideas Coming together of ideas Unique Coherent Theory Separation and Differentiation Absorption

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