A LIFE WELL LIVED Therapeutic Communities Series editors: Rex Haigh and Jan Lees The Therapeutic Community movement holds a multidisciplinary view of health which is based on ideas of collective responsibility, citizenship and empowerment. The tradition has a long and distinguished history and is experiencing a revival of interest in contemporary theory and practice. It draws from many different principles – including analytic, behavioural, creative, educational and humanistic – in the framework of a group-based view of the social origins and maintenance of much overwhelming distress, mental ill-health and deviant behaviour. Therapeutic Community principles are applicable in a wide variety of settings, and this series will reflect that. Thinking About Institutions Milieux and Madness R.D. Hinshelwood ISBN 1 85302 954 8 Therapeutic Communities 8 An Introduction to Therapeutic Communities David Kennard ISBN 1 85302 603 4 Therapeutic Communities 1 Therapeutic Communities Past, Present and Future Edited by Penelope Campling and Rex Haigh ISBN 1 85302 626 3 Therapeutic Communities 2 Therapeutic Communities for the Treatment of Drug Users Edited by Barbara Rawlings and Rowdy Yates ISBN 1 85302 817 7 Therapeutic Communities 4 A Therapeutic Community Approach to Care in the Community Dialogue and Dwelling Edited by Sarah Tucker ISBN 1 85302 751 0 Therapeutic Communities 3 A Life Well Lived Maxwell Jones–A Memoir Dennie Briggs Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and New York First Published in the United Kingdom in 2002 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, England and 29 West 35th Street, 10th fl. New York, NY 10001-2299, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © 2002 by Dennie Briggs All rights reserved. Neither the whole nor any part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Briggs, Dennie. A life well lived : Maxwell Jones--a memoir/Dennie Briggs. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-84310-740-6 (alk. paper) 1. Jones, Maxwell. 2. Clinical psychologists--Biography. I. Title. RC438.6.J644 B75 2002 616.89’0092--dc21 [B} 2002023979 British library Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1 84310 740 6 ISBN 1 84310 740 6 Printed and Bound in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear CONTENTS Introduction: A Record of a Friendship 11 1. “Max and his Gangsters” 13 2. The 1960s 27 3. Painful Communication 47 4. Dreams Die Hard 85 5. Recycling the Psyche 117 6. The Illusion of Reality 155 7. After Thoughts: A Life Well Lived 171 8. Social Learning and the Future: A Conversation 177 NOTES AND REFERENCES 195 Maxwell Shaw Jones 1907–1990 For the memory and legacy of Maxwell Jones by the same author Dealing With Deviants: The Treatment of Anti-Social Behavior. (1972) London: Hogarth Press (co-author). In Place of Prison. (1975) London: Temple Smith/New Society. La Comunità Therapeutica: Conversazioni con Maxwell Jones. (1986) Rome: Centro Italiano di Soldarietà. An Open Life: Joseph Campbell in Conversation with Michael Toms. (1990) New York: Harper & Row (co-editor). A Class of Their Own: When Children Teach Children. (1998) Westport, Connecticut: Bergin & Garvey/Greenwood. Online Publications: http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk In Prison, I, II, III In the Navy, I, II In School, I, II, III, IV