Wendel A. Ray, Ph.D., is a senior research fellow and former director of MRI, where he has served as a research associate and director of their Don D. Jackson Archive since the late 1980s. Dr. Ray is professor of family therapy at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He conducts trainings internationally and nationally on a variety topics, including brief therapy of adolescent substance abuse, ADHD, and family violence. Published widely, Dr. Ray also lectures regularly on the contributions of Gregory Bateson as well as Jackson.
PAUL WATZLAWICK Insight May Cause Blindness AND OTHER ESSAYS
PAUL WATZLAWICK Insight May Cause Blindness AND OTHER ESSAYS
Paul Watzlawick is among the best known figures in the fields of communication and constructivist theory, family and brief therapy. A Senior Research Fellow at the Mental Research Institute (MRI) and founding member of the MRI Brief Therapy Center team, he was Clinical Professor Emeritus at Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Watzlawick’s contributions to the Interactional View of human behavior are profound, many, and among the most influential and widely read.
Born in 1921, Watzlawick studied philosophy and philology at the Universitŕ Ca' Foscari Venice and earned a doctorate degree in 1949. He then studied at the Carl Jung Institute in Zurich, where he received a degree in analytical psychotherapy in 1954. In 1957 he continued his researching career at the University of El Salvador. In 1960, Don. D. Jackson arranged for him to come to Palo Alto to do research at the Mental Research Institute (MRI). In 1967 and thereafter he taught psychiatry at Stanford University.
Watzlawick followed in the footsteps of Gregory Bateson and the research team (Don D. Jackson, John Weakland, Jay Haley) responsible for introducing what became known as the “double bind” theory of schizophrenia. Watzlawick's 1967 work based on Bateson's thinking, Pragmatics of Human Communication (with Don Jackson and Janet Beavin), became a cornerstone work of communication theory. Other scientific contributions include works on radical constructivism and most importantly his theory on communication. He was active in the field of family therapy.
About the Editors
Wendel A. Ray, Ph.D., LCSW, LMFT, LPC, trained in Milan Systemic Family with Gianfranco Cecchin, and in clinical hypnosis at the M. H. Erickson Foundation. His doctoral studies were with Bradford Keeney in cybernetics applied to human behavior. Drawn to the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in 1987 to study the work of Don Jackson and the MRI Brief Therapy approach; he became an MRI Research Associate when John Weakland encouraged him to found the Don Jackson Archive. Dr. Ray has served as Teaching Faculty since that time, and as a member of the Brief Therapy Center from 1997–2004. MRI Director from 2000-2004, and a Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Ray continues to serve as Director of the Jackson Archive, a shared research project of MRI and The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) Marriage and Family Therapy Program.
The Hammond Endowed Professor of Education (2008-2011) and Professor of Family System Theory in the Marriage and Family Therapy Doctoral and Master Degree Programs at ULM, Dr. Ray’s research is in System, Cybernetic, and Communication Theory applied in understanding and changing human behavior. Dr. Ray teaches workshops and seminars across North and Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia; and is author of more than 75 journal articles and book chapters. He is author or editor of a number of other books, a number of which have been published in several languages, including Focused Problem Resolution—Selected Papers of the MRI Brief Therapy Center (Co-edited with Richard Fisch and Karin Schlanger), (2009); Don D. Jackson: Interactional Theory in the Practice of Therapy, Selected Essays Volume II, (Editor), (2009); Don D. Jackson: Selected Essays at the Dawn of an Era, Volume 1, (Editor), (2005); Evolving Brief Therapies (Co-edited with Steve de Shazer), (1998); Propagations: 30 Years of influence from the MRI (Co-edited with John Weakland), (1995); Resource Focused Therapy (Co-author with Brad Keeney), (1993); The Cybernetics of Prejudices, (1993), and Irreverence, (Co-author with Gianfranco Cecchin and Gerry Lane) (1992).
Giorgio Nardone, Ph.D. is the Director of the Centro di Terapia Strategica and of the Post Graduate School of Brief Strategic Therapy in Arezzo, Italy. He is also Professor of Brief Therapy at the Post Graduate School of Clinical Psychology, University of Siena, Italy. With a Ph.D. in educational science from the University of Siena, where for eight years he has been a researcher at the Institute of The Institute of The Science of Phylosophy on the epistemology of the psychotherapy models, he also received the title of Specialist in Clinical Psychology at the School of Medecine, University of Siena.
Dr. Nardone has published many articles and twelve books, translated into several languages, including The Strategic Dialogue (2008), Brief Strategic Therapy (co-author with Paul Watzlawick), (2005), The Art of Change (co-author with Paul Watzlawick), (1993), and Brief Strategic Solution-Oriented Therapy of Phobic and Obsessiove Disorders (1994). His systemic and effective models in treating phobic, obsessive-compulsive, and eating disorders are utilized by psychotherapists throughout the world.
Giorgio Nardone regularly conducts conferences and workshops in both Western and Eastern countries, as well as at his Institute in Arezzo.
ISBN: 978-1-934442-25-8 • Published 2009 • 348 pages • Softcover • $29.95
- Resistance to Change in the Psychiatric Community
- On Unbecoming Family Therapists
- ‘The Double-Bind Theory’ by Self-Reflexive Hindsight
- Brief Therapy: Focused Problem Resolution
- Communication Theory and Clinical Change
- Family Therapy with Individuals
- The Brief Treatment of Alcoholism
- Myths about Brief Therapy; Myths of Brief Therapy
- Basic Elements in the Brief Therapies
- Brief Therapy—MRI Style
Focused Problem Resolution: Selected Papers of the MRI Brief Therapy Center
The Mental Research Institute (MRI) has a distinguished history and can lay claim as the birthplace of numerous contributions to Communication/Interactional theory and innovations in the application of these ideas in the practice of family and brief therapy—not least of which is to be home of the MRI Brief Therapy Center (BTC).
If the work of Don Jackson is the heart and soul of MRI, the articles in this new volume are its backbone. This new volume brings together a selection of the very best papers from the MRI Brief Therapy Center—not an easy task for the editors. Consider that Fisch, Weakland, and Watzlawick published more than 250 articles and book chapters, and add the contributions of other BTC associates and the number grows to more than 400. The focus of this volume is on the most important papers written by John Weakland and Richard Fisch—the pioneers of communication/interactional theory and brief therapy.
Presented chronologically, the papers span nearly fifty years, and include:
Richard Fisch, M. D., is a psychiatrist who has been practicing in Palo Alto since 1958, after having completed a psychiatric residency at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, where Harry Stack Sullivan had done some of his earlier work. Among his educational experiences, Fisch values his years at the Bronx High School of Science in New York (“That’s where I learned how to learn”) and at Colby College in Maine, where he was greatly influenced by his instructor in anthropology, Dr. Kingsley Birge. Fisch received his medical training at the New York Medical College after a short sting at Columbia University School of Anthropology. Introduced to family therapy through training he took in 1960 with Virginia Satir at the Mental Research Institute (MRI), Fisch became a research associate there in 1961, and later a senior research fellow. In 1965 Dr. Fisch proposed the creation of a research center focused specifically on making therapy more effective and efficient. Together with his colleagues at the institute, especially John Weakland and Paul Watzlawick, Fisch organized the Brief Therapy Center (BTC), and in early January 1967 began to see clients, which has continued uninterrupted to this day. Dr. Fisch has four children living in disparate parts of the country: David in North Carolina, Amy in Los Angeles, Ben in Salinas and Sara, with husband Matt and baby Oliver, in San Francisco. For recreation, for years Fisch enjoyed flying as an instrument-rated pilot and he is seriously addicted to dark chocolate.
Recipient of awards for momentous contributions to Family Therapy and Brief Therapy from the American Family Therapy Association (AFTA) and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), Dr. Fisch is co-author of the ground breaking books Tactics of Change – Doing Therapy Briefly, (with John H. Weakland and Lynn Segal), (1982); and Change – Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution, (with Paul Watzlawick and John Weakland), (1974); and more recently Brief Therapy with Intimidating Cases (with Karin Schlanger), (1999). In July 2007 Dr. Fisch retired both from private practice and from the MRI Brief Therapy Center. He now lives in quiet retirement in Menlo Park, California.
Wendel A. Ray, Ph.D., LCSW, LMFT, LPC, trained in Milan Systemic Family with Gianfranco Cecchin, and in clinical hypnosis at the M. H. Erickson Foundation. His doctoral studies were with Bradford Keeney in cybernetics applied to human behavior. Drawn to the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in 1987 to study the work of Don Jackson and the MRI Brief Therapy approach; he became an MRI Research Associate when John Weakland encouraged him to found the Don Jackson Archive. Dr. Ray has served as Teaching Faculty since that time, and as a member of the Brief Therapy Center from 1997–2004. MRI Director from 2000-2004, and a Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Ray continues to serve as Director of the Jackson Archive, a shared research project of MRI and The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) Marriage and Family Therapy Program. The Hammond Endowed Professor of Education (2008-2011) and Professor of Family System Theory in the Marriage and Family Therapy Doctoral and Master Degree Programs at ULM, Dr. Ray’s research is in System, Cybernetic, and Communication Theory applied in understanding and changing human behavior. Dr. Ray teaches workshops and seminars across North and Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia; and is author of more than 75 journal articles and book chapters. He is author or editor of a number of other books, a number of which have been published in several languages, including Don D. Jackson: Interactional Theory in the Practice of Therapy, Selected Essays Volume II, (Editor), (2009); Paul Watzlawick: Insight May Cause Blindness and Other Essays (Co-edited with Giorgio Nardone), (2009); Don D. Jackson: Selected Essays at the Dawn of an Era, Volume 1, (Editor), (2005); Evolving Brief Therapies (Co-edited with Steve de Shazer), (1998); Propagations: 30 Years of influence from the MRI (Co-edited with John Weakland), (1995); Resource Focused Therapy (Co-author with Brad Keeney), (1993); The Cybernetics of Prejudices, (1993), and Irreverence, (Co-author with Gianfranco Cecchin and Gerry Lane) (1992).
Karin Schlanger, LMFT is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied clinical psychology and received her Licenciatura degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1982, where she first learned about the Mental Research Institute. She moved to Palo Alto following that dream in 1983. She immediately started working with Carlos Sluzki, then the director, and joined the Brief Therapy Center the following year. Mrs. Schlanger returned to school, receiving a degree in clinical psychology in 1987. She started her work with the Latino population with Howard Liddle’s group at San Francisco General Hospital, treating clients who were non-compliant with medical treatment. In 1997 she became the Assistant Director of the Brief Therapy Center and, since Dr. Fisch’s retirement, in 2007 is Director of the BTC. She is a Senior Research Fellow at MRI since 1994, and author of numerous articles published internationally and, Brief Therapy with Intimidating Cases (1999) with Dr. Richard Fisch, which has been translated into five languages. Responding to the needs of low income, multiple problem, Latino clients and their families, she co-founded, with Barbara Anger-Díaz, the Latino Brief Therapy and Training Center. Since 1995, she has obtained numerous grants to work with the embattled public schools in East Palo Alto a high crime, low income community which is 75% Latino, 20% African American and 5% Pacific Islander. Since 2005 she has provided counseling and staff consultation for the East Palo Alto High School Academy, a public school created by Stanford University, School of Education to serve this population. Fluent in five languages—Spanish, English, French, Italian and German—Ms. Schlanger conducts training in MRI problem-solving Brief Therapy around the world as well as the United States. Karin is married to an agricultural engineer and has two sons, Felipe and Andreas.
ISBN: 978-1-934442-35-7 • Published 2009 • 272 pages • Softcover • $29.95
Don D. Jackson Interactional Theory in the Practice of Therapy
Don D. Jackson (1920-1968) is best remembered as a brilliant therapist, teacher, and for his leading part in the development of such ground breaking theoretical concepts as family homeostasis, family rules, relational quid pro quo, and, with Gregory Bateson, John Weakland and Jay Haley, the theory of the Double Bind.
Jackson's theoretical and clinical contribution to the understanding of human behavior is phenomenal for its breadth and scope. Many leaders in the fields of family and brief therapy acknowledge Jackson as the principle founder of Interactional Theory and Conjoint Family Therapy.
In a career that spanned a brief 24 years (1944-1968) Jackson 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 (Co-authored with William Lederer, and Pragmatics of Human Communication (co-authored with Paul Watzlawick and Janet Bevin Bavelas).
He co-founded with Nathan Ackerman and Jay Haley the journal Family Process. He helped found the publishing house Science & Behavior Books. Jackson won virtually every honor available in the field of Psychiatry, including the Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Award for contributions to understanding Schizophrenia, the first Edward R. Strecker Award for contributions to in-patient treatment of hospitalized patients, and the 1967 Salmon Lecture from the American Psychiatric Association and the New York Academy of Medicine.
About the Edtior
Wendel A. Ray, Ph.D., LCSW, LMFT, LPC, trained in Milan Systemic Family with Gianfranco Cecchin, and in clinical hypnosis at the M. H. Erickson Foundation. His doctoral studies were with Bradford Keeney in cybernetics applied to human behavior. Drawn to the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in 1987 to study the work of Don Jackson and the MRI Brief Therapy approach; he became an MRI Research Associate when John Weakland encouraged him to found the Don Jackson Archive. Dr. Ray has served as Teaching Faculty since that time, and as a member of the Brief Therapy Center from 1997–2004. MRI Director from 2000-2004, and a Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Ray continues to serve as Director of the Jackson Archive, a shared research project of MRI and The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) Marriage and Family Therapy Program.
The Hammond Endowed Professor of Education (2008-2011) and Professor of Family System Theory in the Marriage and Family Therapy Doctoral and Master Degree Programs at ULM, Dr. Ray’s research is in System, Cybernetic, and Communication Theory applied in understanding and changing human behavior. Dr. Ray teaches workshops and seminars across North and Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia; and is author of more than 75 journal articles and book chapters. He is author or editor of a number of other books, a number of which have been published in several languages, including Focused Problem Resolution—Selected Papers of the MRI Brief Therapy Center (Co-edited with Richard Fisch and Karin Schlanger), (2009); Paul Watzlawick: Insight May Cause Blindness and Other Essays (Co-edited with Giorgio Nardone) (2009); Don D. Jackson: Selected Essays at the Dawn of an Era, Volume 1, (Editor), (2005); Evolving Brief Therapies (Co-edited with Steve de Shazer), (1998); Propagations: 30 Years of influence from the MRI (Co-edited with John Weakland), (1995); Resource Focused Therapy (Co-author with Brad Keeney), (1993); The Cybernetics of Prejudices, (1993), and Irreverence, (Co-author with Gianfranco Cecchin and Gerry Lane) (1992).
ISBN: 978-1-934442-33-3 • Published 2009 • 280 pages • Softcover • $32.95
- Don Jackson’s intellectual prowess, teaching charisma, and refusal to blindly adhere to the status quo are all apparent in these writings. Get to
know Don Jackson and we get to know a man who profoundly influenced the human sciences. In looking back at his work, we not only shed
light on the nature of the field as it is today but we recapture the spark of passion and imagination that could very well revitalize the clinical
work we do tomorrow.
Don D. Jackson: Selected Essays at the Dawn of an Era
Imagine contemporary art without Picasso, mathematics without Newton, theater without Shakespeare, psychology without Freud …
We chug along in our given areas and then one day someone steps in to show us something different, something entirely new. We usually resist it
at first, but eventually that radical perspective is subsumed into the movement as if it had always been there. Don D. Jackson was such a pioneer.
He galvanized the field of family therapy when individual therapy was the norm. He fostered the development of brief therapy in a world where
long-term therapy was the standard. He made significant contributions to the treatment of schizophrenia when most viewed the problem as
hopeless. Yes, this book, skillfully edited by Wendel Ray, provides the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in Jackson’s contributions.
More important, however, it reveals the story behind many of the major contemporary trends in the field. At the time of his death, Jackson was
poised to lead the human sciences from the then-prevalent view of the individual in isolation to one that encompasses the interconnectedness of
humanity and the essential relationship of behavior to context. Although he did not have the chance to forge that paradigmatic shift, the seeds he
planted did take root, as is evidenced in the work of so many current experts. These rare chapters offer a detailed portrait of Jackson and his work,
and Wendel Ray has provided insightful introductions to frame the three sections into which the papers are divided: Early Clinical Observations,
Defining an Interactional Theory of Human Relationships, and Research Into the Nature of Human Interaction.
ISBN: 978-1-932462-20-3 • Published 2006 • 400 pages • Hardcover • $49.95
Reviewed by Bradford Keeney, Ph.D., President and Distinguished Professor, Southwestern College of Santa Fe