Ray (2000) described Jackson’s contributions as “like water is to the makeup of living organisms, so Jackson’s contributions are to the relationship-based conception of human behaviour and constructive change.” John Weakland, Salvador Minuchin, Richard Fisch, Irving Yalom, and many other first generation pioneers considered Jackson a therapist of genius who created the first, and some believe most effective, model of systemic family therapy. In my answer, I am going to elaborate on Don Jackson’s contributions to Family therapy that is of the effects of patients’ therapy on the entire family, the concept of family homeostasis, the model of the family involving rules that defined the communication patterns and interactions among family members.…show more content… Jackson places a lot of emphasis on the communication that is both the report and command aspect whereby the clients seek to determine the nature of their relationship with each other. He states that this “process, at the relationship level of interaction, warrants close attention.” He also states that relationship agreements which are referred to as rules, prescribe and limit the individuals’ behaviours over a wide variety of content areas, organising their interaction into a reasonably stable…show more content… It describes a relationship with well-formulated rules in which each partner gives something and receives something else in return (Goldernberg &Goldernberg, 2011). “Rules” according to Jackson may be understood through the use of 2 types of metaphors. They are the descriptive and prescriptive metaphors. Descriptive metaphors describe patterns of interchange and prescriptive patterns direct when change can or cannot occur between members. Rigid families tend to have too many rules while chaotic families too few rules. Furthermore, all members learn the family’s meta-rules that is the unstated family directives such as interpreting rules, enforcing rules and changing rules. In a well-functioning family, rules help to maintain order and stability while at the same time allowing for adjustment to changing circumstances. So-called symptomatic behaviours emerges in families when clients are unable to arrive at consensual validation about the changing nature of their