The Palo Alto Mental Research Institute (MRI) is one of the founding institutions of brief and

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 ...

.Nichols, M., & Schwartz, R. (2005). ''Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods'' (7th Edition), New York City:

Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari ...

. Founded by Don D. Jackson and colleagues in 1958, MRI has been one of the leading sources of ideas in the area of interactional/systemic studies,

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

, and family therapy.

Overview

According to an article in the ''Psychotherapy Networker'' on

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 ...

(a Research Associate at MRI in the 1960s) MRI "became the go-to place for any therapist who wanted to be on the cutting edge of psychotherapy research and practice. Fostering a climate of almost untrammeled experimentalism, MRI started the first formal training program in family therapy, produced some of the seminal early papers and books in the field, and became a place where some of the field's leading figures -

Paul Watzlawick Paul Watzlawick (July 25, 1921 – March 31, 2007) was an Austrian-American family therapist, psychologist, communication theorist, and philosopher. A theoretician in communication theory and radical constructivism, he commented in the fields ...

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 ...

, Jules Riskin, Virginia Satir, Salvador Minuchin,

R.D. Laing Ronald David Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illnessin particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment of ...

Irvin D. Yalom Irvin David Yalom (; born June 13, 1931) is an American existential psychiatrist who is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, as well as author of both fiction and nonfiction. Early life Yalom was born in Washington, D.C. ...

Cloe Madanes Chloe (; ), also spelled Chloë, Chlöe, or Chloé, is a feminine name meaning "blooming" or "fertility" in Greek. The name ultimately derives, through Greek, from the Proto-Indo-European root ', which relates to the colors yellow and green. T ...

- came to work or just hang out". Later, the Brief Therapy Center at MRI presented an innovative model for the comprehensive approach to brief psychotherapy, a model which, in turn, has influenced subsequent brief therapy approaches throughout the world. The Brief Therapy Center at MRI was founded by Dick Fisch, John Weakland, and

. Continuing applied research and theory development have expanded the use of interactional concepts to community, school and business. Thousands of professionals within the U.S. as well as from many countries of the world have attended MRI training programs.

Mission statement

The Mental Research Institute (MRI), established in 1958 by Donald deAvila Jackson, is a small, independent, multi-disciplinary, non-profit corporation: *devoted to conducting and encouraging scientific research based on new ways of looking at how people behave, *dedicated to benefit the human community worldwide through training, clinical and consultative services *committed to extending a tradition of innovation and openness towards new paradigms of change. The focus of MRI is to explore and to encourage the use of an interactional approach to further understand and more effectively resolve human problems from the family to all other levels of social organization.About Us

Books on MRI

*''The Interactional View: Studies at the Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto, 1965–1974'', edited by Weakland, J., and Watzlawick, P. (1979) New York:

WW Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...

*''Propagations: Thirty years of Influence from the Mental Research Institute'', Weakland, J., & Ray, W. (1995). New York: Haworth Press The bibliography of associates of MRI lists over 1000 journal and book publications.

References

External links

The Mental Research Institute
{{authority control Family therapy Mental health organizations in California Palo Alto, California Psychotherapy in the United States Research institutes in California Systems theory Systems science institutes