Palo Alto group
The Palo Alto Group is a research group of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers at the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto , California. Inspired by Gregory Bateson , they originally conducted research on schizophrenia , later on communication , psychotherapy and family therapy .
Employee
The institute was founded in 1959 by Don D. Jackson , the "Palo Alto Group" was formed right from the start.
| Employee | from ... to | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Don D. Jackson | 1959-1968 | Founder, Schizophrenia Research |
| Richard Fish | ||
| Jay Haley | 1959-1967 | |
| Jules Riskin | ||
| Virginia satir | 1959-1966 | Family therapy training projects |
| Paul Watzlawick | 1960-2007 | |
| John Weakland | 1959-1995 | Short therapies |
| William F. Fry | Paradoxes and humor |
Research topics and results
The theories developed there about human communication, families and family therapy , systems theory and their implementation in therapeutic methods are just as important for psychology and all areas of life affected by it as psychoanalysis. Keywords are metacommunication , double bonds , systemic family therapy , cybernetics , systems theory, " focused problem resolution", structural family therapy , strategic family therapy , punctuation , constructivism etc.
The Palo Alto Group turned away from looking at isolated individuals and focused on the development of individuals through their interaction with their environment, which was absolutely revolutionary at the time they were working on these ideas. The book Interaction contains a compilation of essays and book excerpts published by members of the group. Best known, however, are the later books Human Communication. Forms, disorders, paradoxes and solutions. On the theory and practice of human change, in which members of the group presented their ideas for communication and problem solving. The group practiced the so-called problem-oriented short therapy, the basis of which was to think about how problems were maintained based on the solutions attempted so far, on the one hand, and relationships with oneself, other people and the world on the other.
Its most prominent member was Paul Watzlawick, known to most people for his guidance on unhappiness . In the instructions on unhappiness, Watzlawick reflects very strongly the basic ideas of the Palo Alto group: He describes how people can make life difficult for themselves, create problems and maintain them “successfully”.
The “ Paradox Interventions ” used by the Milanese group around Mara Selvini Palazzoli and the “ Strategic Brief Therapy ” by Giorgio Nardone were very strongly influenced by the group . Watzlawick maintained close contact and exchange for a long time with Palazzoli and Nardone.
literature
- Walker, Wolfgang: Adventure Communication - Bateson, Perls, Satir, Erickson and the Beginnings of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-608-91976-7 .
Web links
- Mental Research Institute (MRI) website