The ‘Unfashionable’ John Byng‐Hall: Narrative, Myths and Attachment

Abstract

John Byng‐Hall would not want to be called a ‘hero’ or ‘pioneer’ of family therapy, nonetheless that is what he is. He has acted as a major figure in the development of the profession in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, co‐founding the family therapy course at the Tavistock clinic, where he was a Consultant Child and Family Psychiatrist until he retired in 1997. As an author and editor of internationally recog‐nised books and papers on family scripts, myths and legends, narrative and attachment, John has bridged systemic, attachment, psychoanalytic and narrative approaches to family therapy. Like his ancestor Admiral Byng, John's own narrative challenges the existing political order, which in current family therapy involves conformity to Postmodern fashion and denigration of things historical.