ANZJFT Volume 27 Number 3
September 2006Contents
Abstracts & Sample Articles
In Brief: Coming Events, Jottings and Announcements
View article. [PDF format - 54KB]Editorial - Bateson: What Every Schoolboy Doesn’t Know
by Hugh CragoView article. [PDF format - 140KB]
Gregory Bateson at 100
by Brian StagollGregory Bateson (1904-1980) was a founding figure of family therapy. The Centenary of his birth offers a chance to look again at his life and work for 'the patterns that connect'. Family therapy may have turned out to be a receding part of that pattern, but it remains important to place Bateson and his thinking in the larger contexts of knowledge; the 19th Century history of Darwin and Evolution, and 20th Century developments in Genetics, Anthropology, Cybernetics and Psychotherapy. Bateson swam in all these vast currents, to move towards and evolve new aesthetic, holistic and contextual forms of systemic wisdom. His ideas are still very relevant to therapists, but even more, they may be vital to our very survival as a planet in this new century.
Double Bind: Much More Than Just a Step 'Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia'
by Joel CullinIn 1956, Bateson, Jackson, Haley, and Weakland published 'Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia'. This paper was an early milestone in family therapy's development, signifying the importance that communications theory and cybernetics would hold for the evolution of the field over the ensuing three decades. Many are familiar with the notion of the double bind; however, the idea's theoretical underpinnings, and the broader contributions of the paper that launched it, are often misunderstood or overlooked. The fiftieth anniversary of the publication of 'Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia' offers an opportunity to revisit the importance of the contribution made by Bateson and his then colleagues, and to return to the fore the notions of logical typing, context, relationship and circularity that are at its heart.
Feedback Loops in Clinical Practice: An Integrative Framework
by Andrew L. C. GunnerPractical concepts and interventions for counsellors and their clients are presented based on Maruyama's concept of feedback. Elements of psychodynamic theory, Weinberg's theory and Moreno's role theory are reformulated in terms of feedback. The concept of feedback also links network theory and chaos theory; cognitive challenges and psychodynamic interpretation. This forms an integrative framework for understanding human functioning. Human functioning emerges from the interaction of innumerable intrapersonal and interpersonal feedback loops. The feedback loops organise a network of actions, ideas and feelings, and a network of roles. Some feedback loops tend to intensify life difficulties, while others tend to resolve these difficulties. The counselling interventions evolved from problem-gambling counselling practice, and example interventions are provided based on a composite problem gambler.
Shame, Realisation and Restitution: The Ethics of Restorative Practice
by Alan JenkinsIn this paper, I want to highlight the ethics of restorative practice in therapeutic intervention with men who have abused family members. The term 'restorative action' is commonly evoked in the aftermath of abuse, especially in the context of attempts to re-establish respectful relationships between family members.
At the Heart of Therapy: A Conversation with Ron Perry
by Val ClarkRon Perry has recently retired from his position as Director of the Institute of Counselling in Sydney, a position that he held for 35 years. Over the course of his career, his interest in all aspects of counselling, and his enthusiasm for family therapy, led him to attend numerous training programs and workshops overseas as well as in Australia. Like others at the time, he progressed through the 'new' models of therapy as they evolved over the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He has been a consultant to many individuals and groups across Sydney, and was a trainer and supervisor for 10 years with Margaret Topham's Family Therapy Institute of Australia. In 2005 Ron was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for 'service to the community as a counsellor, particularly as one of the founders of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia'.
