A New Method for Therapy and Research in the Treatment of Schizophrenic Families

Abstract

In Oslo, in 1975, at the 5th Symposium on the Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia, the subject of our lecture focused on our book, Paradox and Counterparadox,¹ which had been published in Italian a few months earlier. The book conveyed the results of a therapeutic program developed at our Center between 1972 and 1975 with 15 families presenting patients diagnosed as schizophrenic. We use the Bleulerian term of schizophrenia, now universally employed, to signify a particular behavioral pattern inseparable from the pattern observable in the natural group in which it occurs: the family. This work was characterized by the attempt to operate with methodological rigor, devising therapeutic interventions which would be rigorously consistent with the conceptual model we had adopted, the systemic model, strongly influenced by Bateson’s thinking. We devised four therapeutic tools: the positive connotation of all behaviors of each family member, family rituals, lengthy intervals between sessions, and paradoxical reframing. The effects of these tools were quite often astonishing and confirmed the validity of our model. Working along this line we definitely rejected any and all temptations to teach the family. It was no longer a question of showing, explaining, interpreting, or helping the family understand their situation rationally. It was, rather, a question of grasping — as quickly as possible — the game inside the family which maintained the symptomatic behavior. Once the game was understood our objective was to devise an intervention which would prevent its continuation.