__NOTOC__ Donald deAvila Jackson, M.D. (2 January 1920 – 29 January 1968) was an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

best known for his pioneering work in

family therapy Family therapy (also referred to as family counseling, family systems therapy, marriage and family therapy, couple and family therapy) is a branch of psychology and clinical social work that works with families and couples in intimate relation ...

. From 1947 to 1951, he studied under

Harry Stack Sullivan Herbert "Harry" Stack Sullivan (February 21, 1892, Norwich, New York – January 14, 1949, Paris, France) was an American Neo-Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who held that "personality can never be isolated from the complex interpersonal r ...

. From 1953 to 1962, he worked with

Gregory Bateson Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician, and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. His writings include ''Steps to ...

, John Weakland,

Jay Haley Jay Douglas Haley (July 19, 1923 – February 13, 2007) was one of the founding figures of brief and family therapy in general and of the strategic model of psychotherapy, and he was one of the more accomplished teachers, clinical supervisors, an ...

and William Fry, developing thinking in the areas of

brief therapy Brief psychotherapy (also brief therapy, planned short-term therapy) is an umbrella term for a variety of approaches to short-term, solution-oriented psychotherapy. Overview Brief therapy differs from other schools of therapy in that it emphas ...

systems theory Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...

and

communication theory Communication theory is a proposed description of communication phenomena, the relationships among them, a storyline describing these relationships, and an argument for these three elements. Communication theory provides a way of talking about a ...

. One of the results of this research was the development of the

double bind A double bind is a dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more reciprocally conflicting messages. In some scenarios (e.g. within families or romantic relationships) this can be emotionally distressing, creati ...

theory of

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

. In 1958, he founded the

Mental Research Institute The Palo Alto Mental Research Institute (MRI) is one of the founding institutions of brief and family therapy.Nichols, M., & Schwartz, R. (2005). ''Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods'' (7th Edition), New York City: Prentice Hall. Founded by Do ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

, and was its first director. Don died by suicide on 29 January 1968. His death was alluded to cryptically ("he was rumored to be in ill health").

Quotes about Don Jackson

"How did Don Jackson influence the field of family therapy? How did Watts influence the steam engine? He made it. Others have refined the steam engine into a better, more efficient machine. I'd say that is what Don did for family therapy, he established the discipline. Others have gone on to refine it." —

Richard Fisch Richard Fisch (1926–2011) was an American psychiatrist best known for his pioneering work in brief therapy. Dick Fisch graduated from Colby College, studied for a year at Columbia University School of Anthropology, and then entered the New ...

, MD, Founder & Director, Brief Therapy Center,

Don Jackson's Official Web site
"I miss Don. Don had a quickness and a lightness in touch that is I think very important in handling problems of human behavior. I think he might have thought that some of our antics this evening a little funny and to come up to this platform and lightened our procedures a little. It would have been nice. He was historically of course a very important person. His original paper on family homeostasis was certainly one of the first, perhaps the first major statement about the family as a system." —

speaking at a memorial conference for Don Jackson

Publications

* Jackson, D. (Ed.). (1960). ''The Etiology of Schizophrenia''. NY, Basic Books. * Jackson, D. (1964). ''Myths of Madness: New Facts for Old Fallacies''. NY, Macmillan Pub. Co. * Haas, A. & Jackson, D. (1967). ''Bulls, Bears and Dr. Freud'', Mountain View, CA: World Pub. * Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J., Jackson, D. (1967). ''Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies & Paradoxes''. NY: W.W. Norton. Also published in Bern, Switzerland. Hans Huber, Pub., 1969. *Jackson, D. (Ed.). (1968a). ''Communication, Family and Marriage'' (Human communication, volume 1). Palo Alto, CA: Science & Behavior Books. * Jackson, D. (Ed.). (1968b). ''Therapy, Communication and Change'' (Human communication, volume 2). Palo Alto, CA: Science & Behavior Books. * Lederer, W. & Jackson, D. (1968). ''Mirages of Marriage''. NY: W.W. Norton & Co. * Ray, W. (Ed). (2005). ''Don D. Jackson - Essays at the Dawn of an Era, Selected papers Vol.I''. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker, Theisan, Ltd. * Ray, W. (Ed.). (2009). ''Don D. Jackson - Interactional Theory in the Practice of Therapy, Selected Papers Vol. II''. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker, Theisan, Ltd.

Notes

External links

Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Donald Deavila 1920 births 1968 deaths American psychiatrists Family therapists American systems scientists Communication theorists 20th-century American physicians Suicides in the United States