Bowen Family Systems
Bowen Family System Theory
Introduction
In doing my studies on family/systemic counselling, I found Bowen’s theory intriguing. In my work and everyday life, I witness triangulation on a daily basis, from my own experience, without the awareness from this module, I was often entwined in triangulation. As a trainee therapist I decided to write my paper on Bowenian Therapy in order to gain a better understanding and develop my awareness.
Murray Bowen, M.D. (31 January 1913 - 9 October 1990) was an American psychiatrist and a professor in Psychiatry at the Georgetown University. Bowen was among the pioneers of family therapy and founders of systemic therapy.
“The family systems theory is a theory introduced by Dr. Murray Bowen that suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their family, as the family is an emotional unit. Families are systems of interconnected and interdependent individuals, none of whom can be understood in isolation from the system” (Genopro.com 18/11/2010)
Bowen’s interest in family began as he was practicing as a psychiatrist in the 1940s. He focused on schizophrenic patient’s emotional relationships with their mothers. Others have called it a symbiosis relationship, but for him it was only an exaggerated natural process of emotional relationship. In 1954 he started to hospitalize the entire family of the sick (schizophrenic) person. He found out that the entire family suffered with the sick person emotionally. He also studied the relationship between mother-child symbioses.
This involved a certain repetitive pattern, where he observed alternating patterns of closeness and distance. They portrayed sensitive emotional tensions caused by separation anxiety and incorporation anxiety. In 1959 he started working with families with less severe problems. Surprisingly these families displayed the same problems as the disturbed families. He concluded that there is no
Introduction
In doing my studies on family/systemic counselling, I found Bowen’s theory intriguing. In my work and everyday life, I witness triangulation on a daily basis, from my own experience, without the awareness from this module, I was often entwined in triangulation. As a trainee therapist I decided to write my paper on Bowenian Therapy in order to gain a better understanding and develop my awareness.
Murray Bowen, M.D. (31 January 1913 - 9 October 1990) was an American psychiatrist and a professor in Psychiatry at the Georgetown University. Bowen was among the pioneers of family therapy and founders of systemic therapy.
“The family systems theory is a theory introduced by Dr. Murray Bowen that suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their family, as the family is an emotional unit. Families are systems of interconnected and interdependent individuals, none of whom can be understood in isolation from the system” (Genopro.com 18/11/2010)
Bowen’s interest in family began as he was practicing as a psychiatrist in the 1940s. He focused on schizophrenic patient’s emotional relationships with their mothers. Others have called it a symbiosis relationship, but for him it was only an exaggerated natural process of emotional relationship. In 1954 he started to hospitalize the entire family of the sick (schizophrenic) person. He found out that the entire family suffered with the sick person emotionally. He also studied the relationship between mother-child symbioses.
This involved a certain repetitive pattern, where he observed alternating patterns of closeness and distance. They portrayed sensitive emotional tensions caused by separation anxiety and incorporation anxiety. In 1959 he started working with families with less severe problems. Surprisingly these families displayed the same problems as the disturbed families. He concluded that there is no
Bibliography: http://www.abacon.com/famtherapy/bowen.html http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/counseling/bowen.html http://www.bukisa.com/articles/293438_what-is-the-concept-of-bowen-family-therapy http://www.thebowencenter.org/ http://homepages.wmich.edu/~macdonal/SW 6680.05/Friedman.Bow... Contents Introduction