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

2. 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

3. Cybernetics (1940's) Multiple Disciplines
Physics, Math, etc. (initially hard sciences)
Organization, patterns, processes
vs. matter, material, and content
Feedback mechanisms
Communication

4. WWII Interdisciplinary approach Man and machine together (as a system)
Teleology - purposive behavior

5. Gregory Bateson (40's & 50's) Anthropologist
Translated language of “science” into social science and communication terms
Translated psychology into communication terms

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

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

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

11. 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

12. Lyman Wynne Schizophrenia research Family importance Communication
pseudomutuality
pseudohostility
Hospitalized families

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

14. 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?)

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

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

17. 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”

18. 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

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

20. Psychodynamic
Bowen
Boszormenyi-Nagy
Ackerman

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

22. Structural School Salvador Minuchin Structural family therapy
Male juvenile delinquents
inner city, low income, ghetto
Structural family therapy

23. Strategic Jay Haley Milan Group Milan Italy
Strategic approach, with a twist
Palazzoli, Boscolo, others

24. Additional Schools Communications Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral
MRI
Satir
Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral

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

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

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

28. Multidisciplinary Anthropology Counseling Demography Economics
Education
History
Home Economics
Human Development
Law
Psychoanalysis
Psychology
Public Health
Religion
Social Work
Sociology