Chapter 13

Bowen Family Systems Therapy

Bowen Family Therapy• A relatively recent approach to counseling.• Grew out of the need and necessity to help

families adjust and readjust to life after the upheaval and unsettling events of WWII.

• Considered very radical at the time because most models dealt with how an entire family operates.

Murray Bowen• A psychiatrist who became interested in working

families while employed at the Menninger Clinic.• As early as 1951, he began to require that mothers of

disturbed children live in the same hospital setting as their offspring.

• He recognized that the characteristics exhibited by a schizophrenic family were similar to symptoms in many dysfunctional families.

• Viewed the family as a “natural system” that could only be fully understood “in terms of the fluid but predictable processes between members” (Wylie, 1991).

View of Human Nature/Personality

• Individuals are likely to repeat behaviors handed down through generations unless examined and rectified.

• A key element is that there is a “chronic anxiety in all of life that comes with the territory of living” (Friedman, 1991).

• If anxiety remains low, few problems exist for people or for families.

Eight Basic Concepts(Bowen, 1978; Kerr, 1981)

• Eight concepts to address chronic anxiety:– Differentiation– Emotional System– Multigenerational Transmission Process– Nuclear Family Emotional System– Family Projection Process– Triangles– Sibling Position– Societal Regression

Differentiation

The ability of persons to distinguish themselves from their family of origin on an emotional

and intellectual level.

Factors That Affect Differentiation

• Emotional Reactivity• Emotional Cutoff

• Fusion with Others• The ability to take an “I-position”

Multigenerational Process

Passing on coping strategies and patterns of coping with stress from

one generation to the next.

Nuclear Family Emotional System

Evolves in marriage when people tend to select partners at their own

level of differentiation.

Triangles • Can occur between people or between

people and things.• The basic building block of any emotional

system.• The smallest stable relationship system.• The original triangle is between a child and

parents.• Some are healthy – others are not.

Sibling Position

People can develop fixed personality characteristics based on their functional birth order in

the family.

Societal Regression

If a society is under too much stress (e.g., population growth, economic decline), society as a

whole will regress due to the toxic forces countering the tendency to

achieve differentiation.

Manifestations of Anxiety

• Marital conflict• Physical or emotional illness in one

spouse.• Projection of the problem to the

children. • A combination of the previous three.

Roles of the Counselor• Differentiation of the counselor is crucial.• Must maintain a calm presence.• Objectivity and neutrality are essential.• Should not encourage people to wallow in

emotionalism and confusion, but teach them to transcend it by setting examples as reasonable, neutral, self-controlled adults.

Goals• Focuses on promotion of differentiation.• Separate feelings from intellect and in the

process detriangulate.• Understand intergenerational patterns.• Clear up fusion and unconscious

relationship patterns.• Greater self-differentiation patterns among

family members.

Process and Techniques• The chief focus where change is emphasized is the

individual or couple … the family is usually not seen.

• Individuals are targeted for treatment even though emphasis in this approach is systemic.

• The approach is not technique-oriented.• Therapy is process-oriented with techniques when

needed.• Homework assignments are given.

Common Techniques• Genograms – a visual representation of a person’s family

tree depicted in geometric figures, lines, and words.• Going Home Again – the therapist asks the client or

family members to return home to better get to know their family of origin.

• Detriangulation – “the process of being in contact and emotionally separate” (Kerr, 1988).

• Person-to-Person Relationships – two family members “relate personally to each other about each other” (Piercy & Sprenkle, 1986).

Common Techniques

• Differentiation of Self – “the degree to which a person is able to distinguish between the subjective feeling process and the more objective intellectual process” (Gibson & Donigian, 1993).

• Asking Questions – learn to understand the reactions of family disturbances and major events/crises on those in the family.

Multicultural and Gender-Sensitive Issues

• Flexible applications, but limited applicability to different cultures.

• Genograms can be multicultural in nature.• Somewhat controversial in regard to

gender-specific issues.

Strengths and Contributions• Calls attention to family history…can notice and

deal with past patterns and behaviors.• Well-established and heuristically appealing

approach.• Bowen’s theory and therapy are extensive, complex,

and intertwined.• Bowen was insightful and detailed in suggesting the

course of working with families.• Systemic in nature, controlled in focus and cognitive

in practice.

Limitations and Criticisms• Criticized for its failure to support the

intergenerational hypothesis.• Encourages some to examine their history rather

than deal immediately with present circumstances.• The theory underlying the approach is its own

paradigm. Thus, research is a challenging task.• Bowen’s writings are criticized for their complex

and convoluted nature.

The Case of Linda: Bowen Family Systems Therapy

• How would you conceptualize this case using Bowen family systems therapy?

• What would be your treatment plan for this client using a Bowenian approach?