Journal of Systemic Therapies, Vol. 30, No. 4, 2011, pp.

76–88

IN HONOR OF RICHARD FISCH, M.D.:

A FOUNDING FATHER OF BRIEF THERAPY
EDITED BY WENDEL A. RAY

On Sunday October 23, after enjoying breakfast and with a gentle smile on his face,
Dick Fisch laid down for a nap and died peacefully in his sleep. In accordance with
Dick’s wishes, no public ceremony was held and his ashes were dispersed in the
Pacific Ocean in a private family gathering. Just shy of his 85th birthday, his death
followed that of his two closest colleagues and co-creators of the MRI Brief Therapy
approach, John Weakland, who passed away in 1995, and Paul Watzlawick, in 2007. A
central figure in the work of a group that began in early 1950s with Gregory Bateson
and Don D. Jackson’s Palo Alto research group, the death of Richard Fisch marks the
end of one of the most productive eras in the history of psychotherapy.
Richard Fisch was born in December 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. From 1945
to 1946 Dick served as a medic in the U. S. Navy. Returning to civilian life, he
graduated from Colby College, then spent a year studying at Columbia University
School of Anthropology before entering New York Medical College, where he
graduated in 1954. Dr. Fisch completed a year rotating internship at the Brookdale
Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. In 1958 he completed a Psychiatric Residency at
the Sheppard Pratt Health System, Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center,
where Harry Stack Sullivan’s Interpersonal Theory of Behavior was still central in
the teaching of the faculty.
That same year Dick moved to California, where he became Assistant Director for
the San Mateo County Hospital. He held a number of other positions in traditional
hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, but was disillusioned with the traditional
medical treatment that dominated psychiatry, so he began exploring alternatives.
This is how he found Don Jackson, Founding Director of the Mental Research
Institute (MRI), and in 1959 joined the family therapy research and training then
being pioneered at MRI in Palo Alto.
Six years of interaction with other MRI research associates culminated with
publication of Fisch’s first significant contribution to the literature, “Resistance to

Wendel A. Ray, Ph.D., is the former Director and a Senior Research Fellow, Mental Research Institute
(MRI), Palo Alto, California. He is Hammond Endowed Professor of Education and Professor of Family
System Theory, Marriage & Family Therapy Program(s), The University of Louisiana—Monroe (ULM).

76
In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D. 77

change in the psychiatric community,” in which he outlined some of the rationales

used then (and even now) to justify retaining the status quo in psychiatric orienta-
tions that place almost exclusive emphasis on the individual in isolation from the
relationships of which they are a part. That same year in a memo to Don Jackson,
dated September 15, 1965, Fisch proposed creation of a research project focused
specifically on how to make therapy more effective and efficient. As Fisch recalled,
“The idea and planning of a clinical research project in brief therapy began at MRI
in 1965. The climate of therapy at that time had reached the highpoint of psycho-
analysis and it, or variations of it, influenced much, if not most of therapy activity.
At the same time, family therapy was beginning to develop but had very little
recognition in the therapy world” (Fisch, 2006). With this proposal and creation
of the MRI Brief Therapy Center, Richard Fisch triggered the emergence of Brief
Therapy approaches that have radically improved the practice of therapy:

The major, and almost sole, effort expended in out patient treatment today is in long-
term psychotherapy. This is not only among private therapists, but also among most
outpatient clinics. . . . Thus, there is a need for a facility that will consistently provide
imaginative, well planned, brief therapy and at the same time permit a more thorough
study if the effectiveness of this approach in general, and of particular techniques more
specifically. (Fisch, 1965)

Fisch’s proposal launched the Brief Therapy movement and in so doing radi-
cally changed how emotional and behavioral difficulties are conceptualized and
constructive change set in motion. The brief therapy approach set forth by the BTC
Team (Fisch, Weakland, Watzlawick, & Bodin, 1972; Fisch, Weakland, & Segal,
1982; Fisch & Schlanger, 1999; Fisch & Ray, 2006; Weakland, Fisch, Watzlawick,
& Bodin, 1974; Watzlawick, Weakland, & Fisch, 1974; Fisch, Ray, & Schlanger,
2009) is one of the, if not the, first and most influential brief therapy approaches
in use today. Forerunner to post-modern, social constructivist approaches, the MRI
Brief Therapy model evolved in direct lineage out of the cybernetic/communication
theory of human behavior set forth by Gregory Bateson and his team during the
1950s. Conceptually simple, the orientation takes seriously the idea that it is not so
much the difficulties in living that bring people into therapy, but ineffective efforts
being made to resolve those difficulties that inadvertently exacerbate and perpetuate
the problem into irresolvable vicious cycles. Interrupt efforts being made to resolve
the problem and the problem often dissipates on its own (Ray & Schlanger, 2008).
Richard Fisch was a brilliantly effective therapist and among the best teachers
and supervisors I have ever had the privilege to learn from. Unassuming and com-
pletely dedicated to his craft, Dick was one of the most influential pioneers of Brief
Therapy. He was more interested in finding ways to make therapy more effective
than seeking personal notoriety. Even so, the effectiveness of the model was such
that for more than half a century now, legions of mental health professionals journey
to the Mecca that is the MRI and the Brief Therapy Center for training. His legacy
is alive in the MRI Brief Therapy Center, which continues under the directorship
78 In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D.

of Karin Schlanger, in his published writings, and in the brief therapists he trained
that have themselves established brief therapy at institutes around the globe. Fol-
lowing is a series of farewells and tributes to Richard Fisch, M.D., by some of his
friends, colleagues, and students.

DICK FISCH: FRIEND, COLLEAGUE, AND TRAVEL BUDDY

What can I say that has not been said before about Dick? He and I worked together,
closely, for 24 years, from the time I arrived at the Brief Therapy Center at MRI
until his formal retirement in 2008. After that, and until his death last week, it was
“just” friendship. When I got the phone call from his daughter Sara last week, even
though it was not unexpected, I was deeply sad and I felt very lonely. First John,
then Paul, and now Dick.
So, Richit—that is how he said his mother called him—here’s to your life! I
will continue to eat dark chocolate in your honor, will continue to look up at the
sky when I hear small planes (Cessnas, you taught me). Speaking of, thank you
for that great trip with you as a pilot to the Napa Airport to, what else?, eat steak!
It was lots of fun. Carrots will be, forever, confined to your medicine cabinet; I
will never open a container of Brussels sprouts without thinking of you and your
bodily comments and, whenever a student asks a rhetorical question, I will always
think of “and the next question comes from a man in Hightstown, New Jersey,”
which, by the way, I recently discovered is a real city close to Princeton University!
If I’m ever in France I’ll think about our long drive with our colleagues Teresa
and Jean Jacques and your leaning out the window to ask for a receipt: “Un reçu
s’il vous plait”: they invariably did not understand, and Jean Jacques would have
to ask for it over your shoulder. Or the trip with Fritz Simon from the Psychiatric
Hospital in St. Alban, France, where the conference had happened: our early exit,
at midnight to escape to Paris from Saint Chely D’Apcher—an all-night trip on
the train where we could not stop laughing! In Norway, riding in a sulky to see
a glacier, and later a car ride with lots of curves (which became metaphors for
U-turns in therapy) to spend the night in a remote lighthouse. In Toronto, where you
were being honored for contributions to the field by AAMFT, and got lucky with
an amazing apartment, where you and Wendel came to visit. Good times, for sure!
And professionally, like so many other colleagues in the field of family therapy,
I admire you. It was a privilege to work so closely with you in the years after both
John and Paul died. You missed John, in particular, and you were very generous
and patient in your many hours of after sessions planning and teaching students.
Our groups of Spanish-speaking students loved it when you tried to speak Spanish
with them. Even if some people might comment on your New Yorker sharpness of
temper (you were so proud of it, though), I think it was proof of your keen ability
to “get” people very quickly. You didn’t often let on that you were able to do it and
that ability allowed you to “hear” things differently and work from there.
In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D. 79

I have interacted with three of your four children and your only grandson, Oliver.
The girls are intelligent and sharp. They get it from you. You have caring, old friends
that you went to school with: they miss you. You have left a lot of people who are
grateful to you, who respect your intellect, and then, well, there are people like me
who will remember you because you also enjoyed life and good food.

Karin Schlanger, MFT

Director, MRI Brief Therapy Center

REMEMBERING DICK

“What comes to your mind when you think about Dick?” Manuel asks, and I have
to go back to my initial contact with MRI’s Brief Therapy Center, back in the sum-
mer of 1990, when I was so incredibly lucky to discover the three men I consider
today to be the giants of the world of brief therapy, making their acquaintance and
eventually becoming their friend.
I was touched by the three: Paul Watzlawick, with his uncanny ability to find
titles and stories to illustrate and sell this approach, John Weakland, who inspired
me in so many ways and whom I remember above all for his unending curiosity
about anything that crossed his path and for his wonderful way of making therapy so
very effectively brief by “going slow.” And yet I had almost a decade in California
after John died, with Dick on my side. It was Dick who tolerated me as his psych
assistant for almost 10 years until I finally got my license, and who through his
humorous, affectionate, and protective ways of supervising me (as he did many of
the other junior team members at MRI’s Brief Therapy Center), contributed more
than any to the development of the evolving brief therapist that I became. Not only
for my close acquaintance with the jewel that was developed under his directorship
at MRI’s Brief Therapy Center am I grateful, the intimate knowledge I was able to
acquire under Dick’s tutelage, but for the deep appreciation I continue to develop
for the model’s profundity and brilliance.
I asked Manuel how he remembers Dick, and Manuel says: “More than anything
I admired his fierce independence, not only in his work but in the way he lived.
Even in his political beliefs—reflected in his voting for Ralph Nader—he would not
betray his fearlessly progressive views for the correct tactical decision. I admired
his clarity of mind and his discussing issues in a very honest and straightforward
way. Developing a relationship was easy.
Dick, upon detecting some things that I liked a lot, for instance, the fact that I love
pears, had us receive a box with the most delicious pears I’ve ever eaten, and from
that December on every year we would get another box, even after we moved to
Miami. Also, a very anticlerical Dick, knowing that my parents were from Galicia,
Spain, and that one of the most famous Catholic churches in the world, where one
of the apostles is buried, is not too far from their hometown, brought back for me
80 In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D.

from his travel to that part of the world a T-shirt from Santiago de Compostela. A
regular visitor to our cookouts, Dick, who in spite of his last name would rather
have meat than fish, sensing that I needed some protection at the grill, brought me
an apron displaying a message that read something like: “Vegetarian is an Indian
word for a hunter who has failed.”
Dick always smoked some awful (as a Cuban I should know) vanilla-flavored
Dutch cigars. He had the habit of smoking the cigar a little bit, putting it out or
letting the fire die, and relighting it later. I remember that one time he put his
cigar out in an open can he found in someone’s garage. An unknown residue
in the can emitted fumes that impregnated the cigar, so that when he relit it,
he developed quite a few symptoms, not the least of which were some terrible
headaches. In the beginning I also offered him one of my precious cigars, and
he went ahead and inhaled it (you don’t do that with cigars, it’s a “no-no,” but
he did it anyhow—that is the Dick I knew) and of course began coughing like
crazy, never to accept another one.
Remarkable about Dick was his professional integrity and total dedication to
his idea of creating a therapy model that is simple, brief, and teachable. He helped
create an approach for delivering a brand of therapy which now stands as a monu-
ment to his memory. He was a titan in his field, but never lost his simplicity, his
accessibility, and concern for people. That is the Dick we remember.

Barbara Anger-Díaz, Senior Research Fellow, MRI

Manuel F. Díaz, Chairman of MRI’s Board of Directors, 2001–2004

A FEW MEMORIES OF DICK FISCH

In 2007, I sent Dick Fisch a copy of an obituary I had written for his long-time
colleague Paul Watzlawick, to be published in the British family therapy magazine
Context. He wrote back to thank me, and, because I had also written one in 1995
for John Weakland, he ended by telling me not to plan on writing one for him for
a long, long time yet. He intended to survive for many more years. He also offered
to take me up for a spin in his plane on my next visit. We remained in occasional
contact by email for a further year or so, often exchanging jokes. Then, the emails
stopped coming. I later heard from Karin Schlanger the sad news that Dick was
suffering from serious health problems and had retired from the MRI in 2008.
Sadly, the field of family therapy lost yet another of its major figures when, much
earlier than he had planned, Dick died on 23 October.
I first met Dick in the early 1980s, but mainly knew him through my friendship
with John Weakland. He would welcome me warmly each time I was at the Brief
Therapy Center. I was invited to join the team behind the mirror and treated as a
temporary member rather than a trainee or visitor. It was interesting to watch the
team working and be part of it, and fun to watch Dick almost mastering the art
In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D. 81

of working the camera. Also, as the years passed, it was intriguing to watch the
“boys” trying to handle the “girls” pushing to gain equal status, for which they
then seemed to have no comfortable template. Dick and I often enjoyed fencing
matches; English wit versus New York wit. I particularly remember the generos-
ity with which he would drive me to see John during the sadness of his friend and
colleague’s final months. John’s death was a great loss to him, as was Paul’s some
years later. Dick’s death is now, in turn, a great loss to all of us and to the field of
family therapy. However, I fear there may be many of the younger generation of
family and systemic therapists who will neither recognize his name nor appreciate
his significant contribution.

Brian Cade, BA, CSW, MFT

Cirencester, England

MEMORIES OF MY FRIEND

I was part of the BTC from about its second month on, so I have hundreds of stories
I could share. But one that sticks with me shows Dick Fisch’s irrepressible wit and
love for Jewish jokes (I won’t state it nearly so well as he did):

A Jewish boy, Abie, married a “yenta,” who said to him, “I think you love your mother
more than me. Call her and tell her you love me more than her.” Abie complied.
However, his wife said, “I still don’t believe you. Promise me you won’t telephone
her anymore, and I’ll believe you.” He stopped phoning her. Still she did not believe
him, and she said: “I won’t believe you unless you go to your mother, kill her, cut her
heart out from her chest, and bring it to me on a platter.” Filled with pain, Abie went
to his mother, killed her, and cut her heart out. As he was carrying the plate back to
his wife, he stumbled and fell, and the heart fell to the ground. From the heart came
this wee small voice: “Abie, did you hurt yourself?”

Dick started collecting these bizarre jokes, and hoped to publish them. I don’t
think he ever did, but he had great fun telling them, and enjoying the reactions of
his listeners. I never tired of his joking ways, and he was an inspiration to me in so
many other ways. Once, during a BTC session, John Weakland was the therapist
for a client who was troubled about some religious issues. Dick buzzed John on
the phone from the observation room, and suggested, “Tell her we have a religious
expert among us who can come in and assist you.” Since one of my other profes-
sional hats is that of a Lutheran minister, I was sent in as the expert. Although John
Weakland’s cleverness needed little assistance, and my participation was minimal,
everything I said was “expert.”

John Frykman, PhD

Private practice, San Francisco, CA
82 In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D.

DICK FISCH

With the passing of Richard “Dick” Fisch, M.D., the psychotherapy world has lost
another of its brightest lights. I learned a great deal from Dick—from reading his
books and articles and hearing him speak, from some of his students, from being
privileged to serve on a couple of conference panels with him, and from the chapters
he generously contributed to two books I edited (The First Session in Brief Therapy,
1992; and Constructive Therapies, 1994). He kept his eye on health and respected
the capacities of the folks who became his patients. Speaking clearly, forcefully,
often humorously, and cutting through a lot of obfuscating, pathologizing profes-
sional jargon, his was a major voice in the essential paradigm shift from deficits
to strengths, from problems to solutions, from past to future.
We didn’t always agree. One time, when I was an upstart trainee, I took one of
his workshops. Dick presented the case of a late adolescent having what certainly
sounded like a first psychotic break—florid hallucinations, etc. He described ways
he had guided the family to manage the young man through the ordeal. During the
question-and-answer discussion, I asked challengingly why Dick, a psychiatrist,
had not prescribed an antipsychotic medication—given the obviousness of the
psychosis. “Because the family had not mentioned it and I wanted to help them use
their resources,” he answered. We had a heated exchange. I thought then that he, as a
medical doctor, should have seen the indication and quickly used medicine. He held
his ground. (We didn’t yet have the research data, now reviewed by Robert Whitaker
in his 2010 book, Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and
the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, about how such medications
could launch someone on a lifelong career of psychiatric chronicity and more and
more medication.) The young man, by the way, had completely recovered. Dick
was very smart, incisive, funny, caring, and effective—a real mensch, a person of
integrity and honor. He will be missed by many.

Michael F. Hoyt, PhD

Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, San Rafael, CA

REMEMBERING DICK

In February 1988 I first met Dick. The faculty members of MRI came to the Jesuit
seminary in Menlo Park and gave lectures to small study group of Japanese students
from Okinawa that had been organized by Father Jim Moran. In those days, I was
working as a pediatrician in the general hospital in Okinawa and was interested in
the treatment of psychogenic asthma and the patient’s family (Komori, Miyazato,
& Orii, 1991). In Japan, then, the Family Therapy movement had just started and
some books had been translated into Japanese. Minuchin’s approach was familiar,
but the MRI approach, which I thought it to be more systemic, was not.
In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D. 83

Dick and John Weakland came together and talked together, playing clinical
examples on an old SONY audiotape recorder—the same one I used when I was a
kid.Since then, whenever I saw him, the two men were always together.
From 1990 to 1991 I stayed at MRI and completed the intensive training course
with John and Dick (Geyerhofer & Komori, 1995). I remember Dick always smiling
and joking. Very resistance reducing! I have not forgotten one episode, in which
he was asked by a trainee, “Could you explain the difference between MRI brief
therapy and Milton Erickson’s approach?” He answered, “The common is that we
don’t think in terms of pathology, are focusing on the present, give an assignment,
think the client’s position important, and see the client as resilient. While the dif-
ference is that Erickson is on the monadic epistemology, thinks of ‘unconscious’
which is more Jungian than Freudian, and accepts normative values. Of course,
that technically he used formal trance, and authoritative narrative like a guru is also
different.” I had never heard of the word, “resilient” before and later it became the
one of the reasons why I translated Wolin and Wolin’s book, The Resilient Self:
How Survivors of Troubled Families Rise above Adversity.
Last month we published a Japanese translation of Focused Problem Resolution
edited by Dick, Wendel, and Karin (2009). Just before launching the congress of the
Japanese Brief Psychotherapy Association, we learned of his death and everybody
was in mourning for Dick. In a Japanese sense, it is very natural to imagine that
Dick and John are doing Brief Therapy together in heaven or wherever.

Yasunaga Komori, MD
Department of Psycho-Oncology, Aichi Cancer Center Central Hospital

MEMORIES OF MY TEACHER, COLLEAGUE, FRIEND

I paid for supervision with Dick with rugelach. For those of you who don’t know
what that is, it’s kind of like a cross between a soft chocolate chip cookie and
biscotti and comes in several flavors, most traditionally chocolate and cinnamon.
Dick started as a New York Jew and never lost his taste for this little goody or
that particular brand of humor, even if he had long ago given up on the rest of the
traditions. And it wasn’t just any rugelach that would do. On one occasion when
I dared to get the stuff from a different (equally respectable) venue, Dick pointed
out they were not nearly as good.
In addition to attending the traditional Wednesday afternoon brief therapy ses-
sions, I met with Dick individually every time I was in town, which was several
times a year since my first introduction to him in 1990. During those conversations
we talked about theory, my cases, his cases, and his upbringing in New York. I
learned that his mother was a terrible cook and that he and his father used to sneak
out to a restaurant on West 79th Street near my office. I also learned how to be
more efficient and “save time” in my sessions.
84 In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D.

On one occasion, Dick and I were talking about how awful it was working with
people in love who were typically beyond any reason, and then, alternatively, talking
about people who were on the fence about a relationship and wanted advice about
whether to stay or leave. Suddenly Dick, in a very uncharacteristic move, jumped
on the table to illustrate his point saying, “It’s like if I’m on the table asking if I
should get off the table or not.” He went on to say that he felt that such people were
on the table until they got off the table and that we needed to address if there was
something we could do together with them to make staying on the table better. Or,
once having decided to get off the table, was there something we could do together
to make that process easier. But the matter of whether or not to get off the table
was not something we could weigh in on. I will miss Dick’s antics, his laser-like
perception, and his always-thoughtful responses. And I am happy to share the
rugelach connection with any of you!

Katharina Anger, PhD

Teaching Faculty, MRI, Private practice, New York City

THE PASSING OF AN ORIGINAL THINKER

Recently a great pioneer and original thinker of psychotherapy passed away. Richard
(Dick) Fisch was a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend. He was one of the early
developers of the Mental Research Institute (MRI) approach to Brief (Strategic)
Therapy. The Brief Therapists at MRI made major contributions to the field of
psychotherapy and influenced many generations of therapist and theoreticians.
Many models of psychotherapy have acknowledged MRI’s influence. Dick Fisch
was an “Original Thinker.” It is said that there really are few things (or ideas) in
the world that are new. So it is true then that original thinkers are rare indeed. Dick
and his colleagues at the BTC pioneered so many new ideas that have become
commonplace in psychotherapy today. And if he did not create the ideas he was
able to extend them further and apply them to new and innovative situations. He
epitomized someone who was able to “think out of the box.”
I first met Dick when I was a young therapist in the 1980s. I had been trained
traditionally in the Doctoral Clinical Psychology Program at the University of
California Berkeley. After hearing of a special therapeutic approach that was un-
conventional and innovative called Brief (Strategic) Therapy, I joined the Brief
Therapy Intensive Training Program with John Weakland and Dick Fish at MRI.
For nine months I was able to not only practice the method but also had the honor
and privilege to observe firsthand Dick Fisch demonstrate his brilliant techniques
through the one-way mirror.
I remember watching Dick through the one-way mirror as he interviewed a
man with an alcohol problem. This was the first time I had seen the “devil’s ad-
vocate” technique applied to a client. He was asking the alcoholic man questions
In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D. 85

that were very much the opposite of what everyone else in his life were telling
him to do. After a weekend of binge drinking, instead of telling him he really
needed to stop his destructive drinking behavior, Dick asked him why he stopped
drinking this binge weekend? How did he manage to stop the binge? The client
initially looked confused and disoriented. However, when he paused to think
about the questions he was able to acknowledge that he was tired of drinking
and just felt it was time to stop. He was able to see his behavior as something he
could control. This was the first time I saw how important it was not to struggle
with the client in pressuring them to change and how the 180-degree turn in the
approach to clients really works.
I was particularly impressed with one intervention Dick suggested to a young
wife. She was struggling with a husband who was being very argumentative and
critical of her in unreasonable ways. After exploring the problem and discussing
what she had tried, it was clear that she needed to stop defending herself and stop
the arguing. Those were the ineffective “attempted solutions” and represented the
“Interactional Problem Cycle.” He suggested: “The next time there is an argument
you can stop defending yourself. Just turn around and lift up your skirt, bend over
and show him your butt!” I was stunned by this suggestion! Yet I could not help
but burst out laughing at how ridiculous this sounded. I was reassured as the rest of
the team members behind the one-way mirror also were laughing but were trying
to keep their voices low so as not to let the client in the therapy room hear. When
I noticed the client was laughing at this suggestion it was obvious that this struck
a chord with her. She was able to grasp the meaning of the intervention!
It was then I realized that therapy did not have to be “deadly serious” all the time.
There are times when it was helpful for people to see how everyday conflicts and
situations can often get out of hand and take over their lives. When seen through
new eyes we can appreciate how silly some of our behaviors might be. Dick was
highly skilled at guiding clients to adopt a different view of the problem situation
that led to new solutions that were much more effective. There were so many other
interventions and therapeutic techniques that opened my eyes to see therapy in a
whole new light. I learned more about doing therapy in those nine months then in
all the many years of traditional training prior.
Dick had a gentle low-key demeanor that lolled clients into a relaxed and trust-
ing stance. However, beneath that low-key demeanor was a tenacious, feisty spirit
that was totally committed to helping his clients change and improve. Those who
knew him appreciated his dry, at times penetrating, sense of humor. He had an ac-
tive, curious mind, and students and colleagues respected his giant intellect. There
was also a powerful spirit that always reached out to others to offer his wisdom.
He loved teaching and mentoring young therapists. He may not be with us, but his
spirit will continue to guide us!

Terry Soo-Hoo, PhD

Educational Psychology, California State University East Bay, Hayward, California
85
86 In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D.

DICK FISCH AND MRI BRIEF THERAPY

Dick was a psychiatrist and initiated the MRI Brief Therapy Project. As many of you
know, Steve de Shazer was always clear that the Solution Focused Brief Therapy
(SFBT) heritage included—quite directly—the MRI Brief Therapy team. He believed
that the “brief therapy tradition” was a direct line from Milton Erickson to MRI Brief
Therapy to SFBT. One of the reasons Steve always insisted on “Solution-Focused
Brief Therapy” (and not just “Solution-Focused Therapy” . . . and certainly not “Brief
Solution-Focused Therapy”) was that he valued the tradition that was “Brief Therapy.”
The MRI Brief Therapy approach was (is) clearly a “problem-focused” approach,
but it was not a pathology-focused approach. The MRI people believed that, if we
help people stop doing what isn’t working, that will create space for them to figure
out something else that does work. So, fundamentally, it was an approach that valued
clients’ resources. Steve had a close friendship with John Weakland; however, he also
regarded both Paul Watzlawick and Dick Fisch as colleagues.
It was Dick Fisch who, in 1965, proposed to Don Jackson that they create a
research project within the MRI that would focus on how to make therapy more ef-
ficient (i.e., briefer). Thus, with this proposal and the subsequent creation of the MRI
Brief Therapy Center, Dick Fisch helped create the whole idea of “brief therapy.”
Dick was an author of the seminal Brief Therapy paper in Family Process in
1974, “Brief Therapy: Focused Problem Resolution” (which the BFTC people
deliberately mirrored in the title of the seminal SFBT paper in Family Process in
1986) and of the groundbreaking book, Change: Principles of Problem Formation
and Problem Resolution (known generally as “Watzlawick, Weakland, and Fisch”).
This book included the first systematic elucidation of the concept of “reframing.”
It was my privilege to get to know Dick (only a bit). I was privileged to be asked
to present at the MRI on a couple of occasions. Dick was always generous, gracious,
and very supportive in an unassuming way. I also remember sitting in Dick’s office
at MRI shortly after John Weakland died. Dick was saying to me, “Michael, what
are we going to do without John?” Dick was a very humble man.
The MRI Brief Therapy Center continues under the leadership of Karin Schlanger.
Brian Cade knew Dick better than I did, and might want to add to this. Thank you all
for allowing me this long post (however, I believe we ignore our history at our peril).

Michael Durrant
Brief Therapy Institute, Sidney, Australia

REMEMBERING DICK FISCH

I visited the Mental Research Center in 1989. Dick was immensely generous with
his time and we spent hours in conversation; at his invitation I returned to sit with
him and the team behind the screen of the Brief Therapy Center watching Paul
In Honor of Richard Fisch, M.D. 87

Watzlawick conduct a session with a couple. Dick was very relaxed and enjoyed
talking about the work of the team and answering all my questions. This was in
spite of the fact that I had “warned” him from the start that I had changed my brief
therapy practice from using the MRI approach to that of the solution-focused ap-
proach developed in Milwaukee.
Dick wasn’t just generous in his time with me, he was also very appreciative
of his colleagues. He introduced me to the “new generation” of Lucy Gill, Karin
Schlanger (now the Director), and Pat Emard, whose company and enthusiasm
and creativity he enjoyed hugely. Strangely, he was less complimentary about Paul
Watzlawick; he felt Paul was deliberately following other paths in his work (for
example, being very influenced by the Milan group—for which he had been the
supervisor—and using circular questions a lot).
The third member of the original team, John Weakland, wasn’t around when
I visited that summer. In 1994 I returned for an MRI conference, and Steve de
Shazer introduced me to John, who was his mentor. After the conference I visited
the ailing John at his home. When I arrived I found Dick and Brian Cade already in
attendance. John, as I’d already learned when meeting him the first time (he made
an atrocious joke about solution-focused therapy, much to Steve’s embarrassment),
had a mischievous sense of humor. He prompted Dick to discuss the concept of
“exceptions” with me, knowing that Dick was no enthusiast for solution-focused
practice, and indeed Dick began a robust critique of this central solution-focused
technique. After a minute or two of this, John cut across Dick (who had forgot-
ten about my allegiance) to say, “Harvey is a follower of Steve de Shazer.” Dick
stopped short, and there was a sublime pause. Looking up at Brian, Dick said, “So,
Brian, how’s the family?” It was a moment of delightful humor and wit, so typical
of Dick. As usual, Brian had the last word. “Well, my wife and daughter recently
visited Steve and Insoo in Milwaukee.”

Harvey Ratner
BRIEF, London, England

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