Family Systems Theory
Introduction
Symbols
Interlocks
Dr Murray Bowen1913-1990
Introduction
Working on Freud Theory
Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas from
1946-1954
Georgetown University in 1959
Symbols of Family Tree
A man/boy
A woman/girl
Fusion
Dead Person
Cutoff /Divorce
8 Interlocks of Bowen Theory
1. Differentiation of Self
2. Triangle
3. Nuclear Family Emotional Process
4. Family Projection Process
5. Multigenerational Transmission Process
6. Sibling Position
7. Emotional Cutoff
8. Emotional Process in Society
1. Differentiation of Self
The ability to separate feeling and thinking.
2. Triangle:
•
A triangle is a three-person relationship
system.
• A two-person system is unstable
because it tolerates little tension before
involving a third person.
Looking for a girl
Looking for a boy
System gets anxious
They get married
Unstable Marriage
Find each other In same level of differentiation
She gets
pregnant
3. Nuclear Family Emotional Process:
The concept of the nuclear family emotional system
describes four basic relationship patterns that govern
where problems develop in a family.
1. Marital conflict
2. Dysfunction in one spouse
3. Impairment of one or more children
4. Emotional distance
4. Family Projection Process:
The family projection process describes the
primary way parents transmit their emotional
problems to a child.
the parent focuses on a child out of fear that something
is wrong with the child;
2. the parent interprets the child's behavior as confirming
the fear; and
3. the parent treats the child as if something is really
wrong with the child
1.
5. Multigenerational Transmission Process:
Describes how small differences in the
levels of differentiation between parents
and their offspring lead over many
generations to marked differences in
differentiation among the members of a
multigenerational family.
6. Sibling Position:
people who grow up in the same sibling
position predictably have important
common characteristics.
7. Emotional Cutoff:
people managing their unresolved
emotional issues with parents, siblings,
and other family members by reducing or
totally cutting off emotional contact with
them.
8. Emotional Process in Society
Describes how the emotional system
governs behavior on a societal level,
promoting both progressive and
regressive periods in a society.
References:
Bowen, M. Kerr, M. (1978). Family Therapy
in Clinical Practice. Jason Aronson, Inc.
www.biofeedbackandcounselling.com
Ali Hooman 29th Oct., 2010
WWW.alihooman.9f.com
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