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Bowenian
Transgenerational
Systems Theory
- Murrary Bowen
- MD
- NIMH Project
- Schizophrenic mothers
- Schizophrenic mothers
- Originated in early 1960s
- MD
- Differentiation of Self
- Bowen theorized families are
living organisms with
identifiable patterns of behavior
- Individuals pulled between two
competing needs
- Belong to a group and
individuals separate from it
- Belong to a group and
individuals separate from it
- Anxiety present in all families
- Those with higher anxiety
are emotionally reactive
- Those with higher anxiety
are emotionally reactive
- Bowen theorized families are
living organisms with
identifiable patterns of behavior
- Degree of Differentiation
- Differentiation
- Balance; thinking
and feeling
- Autonomous
- Balance; thinking
and feeling
- Low Differentiation
- Cannot think clearly for
themselves
- Emotionally reactive
- Respond in patterned
bxs from family of
origin
- Low autonomy
- Seek love, approval, and
comfort in relationships
- Fused
- Cannot think clearly for
themselves
- Differentiation
- Triangles
- Smallest stable unit in the family system
- form out of anxiety of 2
person system
- Draws third party into it
(often least differentiated
person in family)
- Crosses generational boundaries
- Lessens anxiety
- Does NOT solve basic problem
- Crosses generational boundaries
- Smallest stable unit in the family system
- Nuclear Family Emotional Process
- Undifferentiated Ego Mass
- Bowen - biological
systems to human
systems
- Interdependent emotional bonds
- Emotional systems
- Emotional systems
- People select partners with similar differentiation
- Lower differentiation before marriage;
greater fusion between spouses
- 1. reactive emotional
distance between spouses
- 2. physical or emotional
dysfunction in one spouse
- 3. overt marital conflict
- 4. projection of problem onto children
- Undifferentiated individual cut off
emotionally or geographically
- Undifferentiated Ego Mass
- Undifferentiated Ego Mass
- 1. reactive emotional
distance between spouses
- Lower differentiation before marriage;
greater fusion between spouses
- Interdependent emotional bonds
- Undifferentiated Ego Mass
- Sibling Position
- to thoroughly understanding of family functioning
- sibling configuration enables
therapist to predict certain roles child
may play in family emotional process
- following Toman's work
- to thoroughly understanding of family functioning
- Multigenerational Transmission Process
- all generations part of
continuous natural process
with each generation
pressing up against the next
- emotional response passed
down from generation to
generation
- process continues until
unresolved emotional
attachments and fusion
resolved
- all generations part of
continuous natural process
with each generation
pressing up against the next
- Family Projection Process
- undifferentiated parents transmit immaturity
or lack of differentiation to children
- ex. anxious wife overly involved with
one of the children; fused
mother/child relationship
- ex. anxious wife overly involved with
one of the children; fused
mother/child relationship
- undifferentiated parents transmit immaturity
or lack of differentiation to children
- Extensions of Bowen's Model
- Philip Guerin
- 1973; Center for Family Learning in NY
- Displacement story
- technique to help family
members gain sufficient
emotional distance from their
problems and to become
more self-reflective and less
blaming
- technique to help family
members gain sufficient
emotional distance from their
problems and to become
more self-reflective and less
blaming
- 1973; Center for Family Learning in NY
- Betty Carter
- Trained with Guerin
- Feminist; specializes in
couples (gender equality)
- Trained with Guerin
- Monica McGoldrick
- Feminist; founded Family
Institute of New Jersey
- extended model to include role
that ethnicity/culture plays in families
- believes therapist should not remain
neutral re: gender-based imbalances
- Feminist; founded Family
Institute of New Jersey
- Philip Guerin
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