SANDRA MALOUGH CYNTHIA LOPEZ
Murray Bowen ◦ Oldest of 5 children ◦ Medical doctor ◦ Hospitalized entire families with schizophrenic member ◦ 1975 founded the Georgetown Family Center
Family = an emotional unit (network of interlocking relationships) ◦ Etiology of an individual’s dysfunction ◦ Families are tied in thinking, feeling, and behavior Trying to take the intuitiveness out of therapy by having an objective theory Multigenerational trends 8 key concepts
Differentiation of self ◦ Occurs when an individual is able to distinguish between intellectual processes and the feeling process he or she is experiencing ◦ Greater fusion between individuals, poorer functioning Can’t differentiate b/w thoughts and feelings Have trouble differentiating themselves from others
Undifferentiated family ego mass ◦ “a conglomerate emotional oneness” In other words, an emotionally “stuck together” family Can be so intense family members know each others feelings, thoughts, dreams, and fantasies. ◦ Originally characterized in psychoanalytic terms Later referred to as fusion-differentiation Amount of fusion-differentiation changes
Fusion Lowest levels Emotionally fused to the family Feelings dominate Differentiation of self Highest levels Separate thinking from feelings Over 60 is a small % of society
Triangles ◦ Smallest stable relationship system ◦ A major influence on the activity of a triangle is anxiety More anxiety = more distance, or closeness Less anxiety = comfortable back and forth discussion of feelings
Nuclear family emotional system Lack of differentiation > emotional cutoff > fusion in marriage Unstable fusion in marriage tends to produce 1.Dysfunction in a spouse 2.Marital conflict 3.Projection to one or more children
Family projection process ◦ Parents transmit their lack of differentiation to their children ◦ Intensity of this process is related to: 1.Degree of immaturity/undifferentiation of parents 2.Level of stress/anxiety the family experiences
Multigenerational transmission process ◦ Transmission of anxiety from generation to generation ◦ Patterns, themes and roles are passed through generations ◦ Less anxiety focused on children = more likely they’ll grow up w/ greater differentiation ◦ Child most involved in family’s fusion has lower differentiation
Emotional cutoff ◦ A way to manage intense fusion & anxiety ◦ Distance ourselves physically and emotionally ◦ Escape ◦ Greater fusion = greater cutoff ◦ The pattern remains unchanged
Sibling position ◦ Provides info. about roles people take in relationships ◦ People in same sibling positions tend to share characteristics ◦ Sibling roles are complementary ◦ Reflected in later relationships ◦ Influences triangulation with siblings & parents
Societal emotional process ◦ How families deal with social expectations of things like gender, race, class, sexism, etc. ◦ Coping strategies are passed through generations ◦ Those with higher differentiation deal better
Do not act as problem solver Coach clients to understand process & structure Encourage expanding familial ties Asks questions Neutral parts of triangles ◦ Best if therapist observes from partially outside the family
Decrease anxiety, increase self-focus De-triangulation Balance fusion and differentiation Understanding, not action
Assessment ◦ Genograms Process questions Relationship experiments De-triangulation Coaching Taking “I-positions” Displacement stories
Nichols, N. P., & Schartz, R. C. (2008). Bowen family systems therapy. In Family therapy: Concepts and methods (8 th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Bowenian family therapy. (2008) Based in part on Nichols, N. P., & Schartz, R. C. Family therapy: Concepts and methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Retrieved from Bowen Center for the Study of the Family. (2009). Bowen family therapy. Retrieved from Brown, J. (1999). Bowen family systems theory and practice: Illustration and critique [Electronic version]. Journal of Family Therapy, 20,
Read each scenario and form an analysis using the 8 key concepts Taken from