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Family Therapy Theory: Theoretical Review Of Bowen Family

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Family Therapy Theory Bekka Burlingame Michigan State University Family Therapy Theory Theoretical Review of Bowen Therapy Bowen Family Therapy began as research into relationships between mothers and their schizophrenic children using psychoanalytic theory in the late 1940’s (Denay, 2017). Murray Brown based his therapy on both individuality and togetherness, with a goal of differentiation of self (Nichols, 2013). Bowen Therapy views the entire family as one emotional unit, where each member’s emotional reactivity is dependent on the other family members (The Bowen Center, 2017). There are 8 concepts that make up Bowen Family Therapy and they will be discussed in the following sections. Triangulation is the first concept and is driven …show more content…

Emotional cutoffs include moving away, limiting or eliminating contact, or remaining in contact but not discussing sensitive issues (The Bowen Center, 2017). When an emotional cutoff occurs it puts any new relationship into danger. The new relationships could become too important, in an attempt to fill the void left by the emotional cutoff (The Bowen Center, 2017). Bowen therapy incorporates Walter Toman’s research on Sibling Positions in a family system. Bowen focused on what happens when the traditional sibling roles are changed by the other 7 concepts of his theory, and how that role is filled or left void (Haefner, 2017). The final concept in Bowen theory is Societal Emotional Process (The Bowen Center, 2017). Bowen includes cultural forces, as well as progressive and regressive periods in society as factors that influence the way a person’s emotional system behaves (The Bowen Center, 2017). Society and culture play a role in family behaviors by regulating what is …show more content…

John can then discuss the shame, sadness, disappointment and anger that his father feels towards Leroy and his own reactions on siding with his uncle in the conflict. John begins to see that his father is processing both incarcerations in the same way, and is able to lower his anxiety regarding the lack of acceptance his father gives him. We then discuss the emotional cutoff that occurred and how that impacted the Smith family’s relationship with Rob’s parents. I will discuss how emotional cutoff does not resolve the issue, but only makes it become dormant. When an emotional cutoff occurs, extra pressure is placed on the other relationships in someone’s life. Using process questions, I allow John to discuss how the lack of contact with Rob’s parents influences the family. I will also ask John if he feels that Rob’s unresolved issues with Leroy are being taken out on him and explore

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If the family members cannot think through their responses to relationship dilemmas, a state of chronic anxiety may be set in place. According to Brown (1999.), the primary goal of family systems therapy is to reduce constant tension by enabling knowledge and awareness of how the emotional system functions; and by improving levels of differentiation, where the aim is to make changes for the self rather than on trying to change others. As per Richardson, Gilleard, Lieberman, and Peeler (1994), The short-term goal is to foster better relationships between family members of the different generations by understanding the family system with its rules and balances of power and to mobilize the system by reconstruing these rules and having the family observe its own

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Bowen family systems theory is used for understanding both family emotional and relationship processes (Knauth, 2003). Kolbert, Crothers, and Field (2013) suggest that although there are few publications on Bowen family systems theory, it provides counsellors with a framework for clients, specifically with helping adolescents understand how their functioning and identity have been influenced by their family. Bowen’s differentiation of the self has been argued to be equivalent to identity, and an individual’s balance both togetherness and individuality within their family, family members are both borrowing and lending aspects of themselves between each other (Kolbert, Crothers, & Field, 2013). Bowen, (1978, p. 188) suggested that individuals

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There is a growing complexity and diversity in families. Family systems theory provides a foundation for analysis of such complex and diversified families, making it easy to understand for effective therapy (Zastrow &

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Evaluate the relational patterns in your family of origin, not yourself, in relation to the concept of differentiation. In an evaluation of the Bowen model, the relational patterns in my family of origin shall include the parent-child relationship and so forth that make up my adoptive family structural unit. For example, my adoptive family of origin is a typical two-parent middle-class traditional household, which is not generational on the maternal side. However, on the paternal side, there is a single parental unit set as the first generation by my grandmother (my father’s mother).

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With this understanding, families often need help to resolve their predicaments, to be able to function together as a unit to different entities (Murdock, 2013). Scholars

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Emotional cut off is an extreme measure when a family member no longer interacts with the others emotionally, becoming isolated in their function and in their exchange with the rest of the family members. This concept is important to the functioning of a three generational genogram. When a family member displays emotional cut off, the anxiety of the family is spread across lesser members, with this particular member’s isolation creating even more anxiety and pressure upon the family. In extension, this cut off not only impacts the immediate family, but it disseminates itself across the generational boundaries (Dr Murray Bowen, 2014). In turn family members may try to replace this relationship with another one, creating a potential for vulnerability and let downs.

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“Good family therapy addresses both the injury as well as the family’s previous relational concerns in tandem (Stejskal, 2012). ” Families play a critical role in the recovery process. For positive outcomes in the recovery process, families must remain supportive, and cope with their fluctuating feelings and their loved individual who survived a traumatic brain injury. During the rehabilitation process, most family members and individuals of TBI will travel through three distinct stages.

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The goal of first two sessions is to enhance the growth potential of the individual, the self-actualization. Therapy was set to integrate the needs of each individual family member for independent growth with the integrity of the family system (Satir & Baldwin, 1983). It also entails the installation of hope, helping the family and its individual members enter therapy to develop a positive feeling. Helping refocus the family off of the presenting problem or symptom and on to the strengths within the family. Like Satir’s growth-oriented approach, the intervention focuses on the transformation of the individual rather than an attempt to eliminate or extinguish

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