In 2004, I went back to school with the intention of becoming a counselor. I started taking courses at St. Cloud State University in the Department of Marriage and Family Systems Counseling. Several of my classes were with Dr. Michael (Mick) Mayhew. Dr. Mayhew introduced me to the research literature and the idea that we should do a literature review before we undertook a research project so that we might see what others had discovered before us. This was like handing candy to a baby and I started devouring research literature at a rapid pace.
Dr. Mayhew also introduced me to the literature on family systems therapy. This was a fascinating area of study for me. I spent a considerable amount of time reading the work of Gregory Bateson. In one of our classes, I was introduced to the concept of “epistemology“, which was a important subject for Bateson. The question posed in tour family systems class was “What is your epistemology of change?” In essence, how do you know that change has occurred?
This lead to a trip down a rabbit hole of sorts. I started diving into cybernetics and systems theory. I also spent some time learning about the “Transtheoretical Model” and the “Stages of Change.” I studied “Motivational Interviewing” as a way to get people to think about change.
I was particularly fascinated with the subject of “change.” I bought numerous books on the subject including the list below.
- von Bertalanffy, Ludwig (1968). General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. New York: George Braziller
- Bateson, Gregory (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226039053.
- DiClemente, Carlo C. (2003). Addiction and change: how addictions develop and addicted people recover. New York: Guilford Press.
- Fisch, Richard, Weakland, John H., & Segal, Lynn (1982). The tactics of change: Doing therapy briefly. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Miller, William R., & Rollnick, Stephen (2002). Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. ISBN 978-1572305632.
- Prochaska, James O., Norcross, John C. & DiClemente, Carlo C. (1994). Changing for Good. New York: Morrow.
- Ross, Ashby W. (1956). An Introduction to Cybernetics. Chapman & Hall.