same child,“Never question my authority. I am
your father, and what I say goes!”The contradic-
tion inherent in the two messages ensures that no
matter what the child does in relation to the father,
it will be wrong. According to the Bateson group,
the contradiction, the father’s failure to admit that
there is a contradiction, and the lack of support
from other family members can provide fertile soil
for the development of schizophrenia. Actually,
there is very little empirical support for the
double-bind theory of schizophrenia. Indeed,
there has been a failure even to establish such com-
munications as reliable phenomena. But the
hypothesis was a remarkably fertile one because it
nourished much of the Palo Alto family therapy
work. This illustrates the point that the value of
concepts and research does not reside exclusively
in their rightness or wrongness. Their heuristic
value—that is, the extent to which they stimulate
new work, new ideas, or new procedures—is also
important.
Theodore Lidz and his research team also
emphasized the family in the etiology of schizo-
phrenia (Lidz, Cornelison, Fleck, & Terry, 1957a,
1957b). When marriage partners fail to meet each
other’s psychological and emotional needs, one
partner may form a pathological alliance with the
child, ultimately precipitating the child’s schizo-
phrenia. Bowen’s (1960) observation of schizo-
phrenic patients who lived together with their
parents in a hospital ward for sustained periods led
to the conclusion that the entire family unit was
pathogenic, not just the patient. Ackerman (1958,
1966) reached similar conclusions. This work is
important not because it explained the etiology of
schizophrenia (it did not) but because such work
and that of Satir (1967a), Haley (1971), Jackson
(1957), and Bell (1961) gave impetus and direction
to the family therapy movement—a movement
rich in technique, theory, and history.
The Concept of Communication
From the time of its origins in the work on schizo-
phrenia, family therapy has emphasizedcommunica-
tion. Pathology has typically been seen as a failure of
communication among family members. This com-
munication focus can be seen in what many regard
as the central concept in family therapy—general
systems theory. Family therapy deals with the rela-
tionship between the individual family member
and the family system. The family is conceived of
as a system, which family therapy seeks to alter in
some important way. Many conceptualize the fam-
ily as constantly striving to maintain a homeostasis.
One person’s behaviors (e.g., a child’s developmen-
tal delays) may shift attention away from a conflic-
tual marital relationship. Sometimes the family
successfully adapts to their particular pattern of
interaction within this system. However, when
the system changes (e.g., the child gets older and
is no longer experiencing significant delays), then
the system is unable to adjust to a new homeostasis.
General systems theory would suggest that this
“unbalanced”state is the focus for family therapy.
The therapist achieves positive change by using
feedback that alters the way the system functions
and reestablishing a new, healthy homeostasis.Forms and Methods
There is no clear, consensual definition of what con-
stitutes family therapy. Indeed, there is not even a
consensus on who should conduct it. The general
procedures of family therapy are carried on by psy-
chologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors,
and others. Family therapists and counselors are
trained in several different programs, including clini-
cal psychology, counseling psychology, psychiatry,
social work, family and child development, and edu-
cation. All of this, of course, makes for considerable
confusion and some squabbling over professional
credentials. Some therapists use family therapy as
only one of several techniques; others are exclusively
family therapists. With so little agreement as to who
is qualified to conduct family therapy, is it any won-
der that the specific techniques employed (which
actually seem to have much in common) are given
such distinctive titles? Thus, we havefamily therapy,
behavioral family therapy, conjoint family therapy, concur-
rent family therapy, collaborative family therapy, network
family therapy, structural family therapy, multiple familyGROUP THERAPY, FAMILY THERAPY, AND COUPLES THERAPY 441