La Escuela De Palo Alto

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La Escuela De Palo Alto LA ESCUELA DE PALO ALTO Historia y evolución de las ideas esenciales Biblioteca de Psicología Textos Universitarios LA ESCUELA DE PALO ALTO JEAN-JACQUES WITTEZAELE TERESA GARCÍA BARCELONA EDITORIAL HERDER 1994 A Elisabeth y Alfred A Antonio y Clemencia ÍNDICE Prólogo, por K. Schlanger y P. Watzlawick .................................................................... 9 Agradecimiento ............................................................................................................... 14 Advertencia al lector....................................................................................................... 16 Introducción .................................................................................................................... 18 Cuaderno de ruta............................................................................................................ 23 Parte primera: Hacia una ciencia de la comunicación......................................................... 31 1. Gregory Bateson....................................................................................................... 35 2. Las «conferencias Macy»: la revolución conceptual.......................................... 56 3. El estudio de la comunicación .............................................................................. 95 4. Aprendizaje y contexto............................................................................................ 122 Parte segunda: La doble coacción y más allá.......................................................................... 139 5. Crónicas de un proyecto......................................................................................... 142 6. La doble coacción..................................................................................................... 168 7. Jackson, Erickson y la terapia familiar ................................................................ 195 Parte tercera: El MRI y el Centro de terapia breve................................................................ 225 8. Los comienzos del MRI.......................................................................................... 229 9. La insostenible frialdad de la terapia breve......................................................... 260 Síntesis, perspectivas y conclusiones............................................................................................ 321 10. Las dos caras del cambio......................................................................................... 329 11. Conclusiones: la ética de Palo Alto...................................................................... 344 Anexos............................................................................................................................................ 359 I. El MRI hoy................................................................................................................ 361 II. Informaciones prácticas sobre el MRI................................................................. 368 III. Referencias cronológicas......................................................................................... 373 IV. Direcciones útiles ..................................................................................................... 383 Bibliografia....................................................................................................................... 385 Índice analítico................................................................................................................ 403 PRÓLOGO Nos complace sobremanera escribir este prólogo. A nivel perso- nal, porque ha sido un placer recibir y guiar desde el principio a estos talentos profesionales que se acercaron al Mental Research Institute (MRI) con gran curiosidad y ansia de cambio. Sus formaciones más tradicionales en psicología ya no parecían satisfacer su necesidad de conectarse con el mundo. Era, para los dos, momento de cambiar el contexto y su percepción de la realidad. Creemos que lo han logrado ampliamente a juzgar por el volumen que han producido en largos meses de trabajo conjunto. A nivel profesional, porque en este libro han logrado una síntesis clara de todas las vertientes que han influenciado el desarrollo de lo que en el mundo se conoce como «la escuela de Palo Alto». En la primera parte, los autores desarrollan exhaustivamente el origen de lo que iba a ser un sello distintivo del MRI: la concepción interaccional del comportamiento. Comienzan por hacer un relato muy ameno de la vida de Gregory Bateson. Cuentan cómo Bateson, el hijo menor de un empedernido hombre de ciencia, comenzó su vida de estudiante bajo la presión paterna por seguir una carrera en ciencias naturales. Fue un viaje a las islas Galápagos el que lo guió por fin hacia la antropología. Éste fue el primero de varios viajes largos centrados en estudiar tribus de aborígenes en Nueva Guinea y luego Bali. Durante uno de estos viajes Bateson describió por primera vez su concepto de cismogénesis, que se convirtió en el principio de una lectura interaccional de las relaciones humanas. Prólogo Prólogo Más adelante abordan la importancia de la cibernética como terreno en común para las ciencias de la época. Este concepto fue el que llevó a la convocación de las conferencias Macy. Resulta fascinante para el lector interesado atar todos los cabos sueltos de cómo todos los grandes «personajes» de la época se conocieron y tomaron parte en dichas conferencias. De esa época data que hoy en día John Weakland cuente con una sonrisa: «Gregory conocía a todo el mundo que valía la pena conocer, con lo cual tenía la capacidad de abrir las puertas que necesitaba cuando quería entrar en algún área nueva que le interesaba investigar.» En esa época cobra importancia en las ciencias sociales el concepto de causalidad circular como así también la información y la comunicación. Como dicen los autores: «Estamos en el año 1936 y Bateson ya establece los primeros escalones de lo que se va a convertir en el enfoque interaccional en psicoterapia.» En la segunda parte del libro el doctor Wittezaele y la licenciada García muestran cómo las consideraciones teóricas de Bateson encontraron su lugar en la práctica. Los autores se centran en el principio de la doble coacción, que fue el que puso al «grupo de Palo Alto» en el centro de los acontecimientos en terapia familiar. La doble coacción fue la primera aproximación concreta de la nueva epistemología, los tipos lógicos, la información y la comunicación a las ciencias humanas. Como dicen los autores nuevamente: «La doble coacción define la enfermedad mental como un problema en la comunicación, cambiando de base la perspectiva terapéutica.» Esto ocurrió en gran medida cuando dos miembros del «grupo Bateson», Weakland y Haley, se unieron a Don D. Jackson después que fundó el Mental Research Institute, en 1961. La «escuela de Palo Alto» comenzó en 1955 con una primera hipótesis acerca de la psicosis como relacionada con los conceptos de «madre esquizofrenizadora» y «paradoja». Sin embargo abandonaron el concepto de «paradoja» muy pronto porque no describía ade- cuadamente lo que veían. El concepto de «doble coacción» resultó más abarcador y por lo tanto es el que sobrevive hoy en día en la práctica, aun cuando lamentablemente el trabajo del MRI parece ser más famoso entre los colegas por el uso de la paradoja que cualquier otra intervención. Los autores ponen el énfasis a través de todo su relato, sobre cómo las hipótesis de trabajo fueron cambiando. Nunca se dio el caso de haber «descubierto» algo que ya estaba allí. Más bien fue un proceso de «inventar», como diría Heinz von Foerster, diferentes aproximaciones a la solución de los problemas humanos. Por ejemplo, desde un principio, Bateson se preocupó por el problema mental de los sentimientos y cómo éstos cabían en la práctica de esta nueva modalidad de solución de problemas. Lo que ha resultado, después de muchos años de práctica es que hoy en día, en nuestras prácticas, nos diferenciamos de otras aproximaciones terapéuticas en que no nos centramos en la expresión de sentimientos durante la sesión. No ponemos en cuestión que el presente se ha creado en el pasado del cliente, pero, para producir un cambio en el problema, pondremos el énfasis en lo que ocurre en el día a día en forma práctica. Es en la producción de un cambio en lo que el grupo se centra primordialmente, como lo dicen los autores del libro. La influencia de Erickson es un factor determinante en que el trabajo del equipo del Centro de terapia breve se centre en la producción de un cambio en las interacciones que son dolorosas para la persona o personas que nos consultan. Ciertamente, en lugar de estudiar a la familia como un sistema homeostático, es el proceso del cambio en sí mismo el que ocupa principalmente a los miembros del «grupo de Palo Alto» ahora. En efecto, una de las premisas fundamentales de aquel momento hasta hoy es que los clientes no vienen a pedir terapia primordialmente para esclarecer un pasado inmodificable, sino porque se encuentran ante una insatisfacción en el presente y un- deseo de mejorar en el futuro. En palabras de Erickson: «Ni el paciente, ni el terapeuta pueden saber en qué dirección se ha de verificar un cambio y en qué grado ha de tener lugar este último.» Es la producción de este cambio lo que nos interesa. Muchos de los profesionales del Instituto intervinimos en cierta medida en la tercera parte de este libro. Ha sido una experiencia enriquecedora la de ver el contexto en el cual esa tercera parte
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