John Weakland
John Weakland (1919-1995) is a Anthropologue and a American Thérapeute, founding member of the École of Palo-Viola.
Biography
John Weakland was born with Charleston, in Virginia Occidentale. He makes studies of chemistry and obtains his diploma for the occupation of engineer of the university of Cornell. He works successively in the company of his father, then in a company in the New Jersey which works for the effort of war. He spends then two years to Manhattan within an oil company.
In 1947, it starts to follow the courses of Anthropologie of Gregory Bateson to the New School for Social Research of New York. It continues then its formation at the university of Columbia where he is the pupil of Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict. It is with the latter that it carries out a work on the Chinese culture. It is at this same time that it meets and marries Anna Wu.
In 1952, it joined the " Bateson" project; on the study of the paradox of the abstraction in the communication with the Veterans Administration Hospital of Palo Alto. Within this group, he will work with Gregory Bateson, Jay Halley, William Fry and Donald deAvila Jackson. During this period, Weakland will on the occasion to meet therapeutists such John Rosen and Milton Erickson as well as representative of the Zen such Alan Watts and Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki.
In 1956, members of the " Bateson" project; publish their article founder, Towards a theory of the schizophrenia , into which they introduce the concept of Double constraint. In 1962, Weakland joined the Mental Research Institute (MRI), created by Donald deAvila Jackson in 1959, in which he works with Richard Fisch, Virginia Satir, Janet Helmick Beavin, Paul Watzlawick, Jules Riskin and Jay Halley. During years, within the Center of Short Therapy (created by Richard Fisch into 1965 within the MRI), John Weakland carries on an activity of therapeutist and trainer.
He becomes the friend of Steve de Shazer, which comes for the first time with the MRI in 1976 at the time of the second conference in memory from Donald deAvila Jackson.
Works
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With Gregory Bateson, Jay Halley and Donald deAvila Jackson, Towards a theory of schizophrenia , 1956
- With Paul Watzlawick and Richard Fisch, Changes: Paradoxes & psychotherapy , 1974
- With Paul Watzlawick (to dir.), On the interaction , 1979
- With Richard Fisch and Lynn Segal, Tactical of the change , 1984
- With Wendel Ray (to dir.), Propagations: Thirty Years off Influence from the Mental Research Institute , Hawoth, New York, 1995