ABSTRACT
Although the MRI's Brief Therapy model is well known, little has been written about its use in clinic practice (Chubb, Nauts, and Evans, 1984). This chapter contrasts statistics for the years 1985-1986 of Kaiser-Permanente's Pleasanton, California, psychiatric clinic, which adhered to a MRI Brief Therapy model, with other Kaiser-Permanente clinics that used psychodynamic-eclectic models. In 1983, the Northern California Region of the Kaiser-Permanente HMO, as part of a drive to reduce escalating outpatient psychiatric costs and improve service by unconventional approaches, opened a clinic at their new Pleasanton medical offices which was to base its approach on the MRI model. Headed by Eldon Evans, MD, a member of the MRI Brief Therapy Research Project, and staffed by two graduates of the MRI Brief Therapy Intensive, Phyllis Nauts, LCSW, and the author, it strictly adhered to the Brief Therapy approach except for sparing use of medications.
