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Terminal Illness Impact on Family Functioning and Bowenian Therapy

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Terminal Illness Impact on Family Functioning and Bowenian Therapy
Terminal Illness Impact on Family Functioning and Bowenian Therapy

Abstract
This paper will discuss the adjustments that accompany terminal illness within a family setting. The methods that are applied in the theory of choice will be explored as to whether the treatment is appropriate for this type of tragedy. The compatibility of this theory and this issue will be explored when dealing with the family unit.

Terminal Illness Impact and Bowenian Therapy A family is two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. (Barker, 1999. p.155). Families create patterns that are passed on from grandparents to parents and from parents to children. These become the traditions and part of the value systems that are instilled in the lives of all that are involved. Murray Bowen developed his views of theory pertaining to family systems theory. His view is a theory of human behavior that views the family as an emotional unit and uses systems thinking to describe the complex interactions in the unit. (www.thebowencenter.org/pages/theory.html).
His perspective of the family as a whole having an impact on each individual family member was also shared by many of his colleagues. The objective was to work with the family to understand that unresolved conflict with our original families is the most important unfinished business of our lives. He started out working with mother and child, and then he added fathers to the equation. (Nicholas & Schwartz. 2009, p.138). The interactions between family members generate how a crisis is handled. If a family is close knit, it may be a considered a sign of weakness to let outsiders know how they are feeling or if there is a problem within the family. Generation to generation brings an aspect to the next generation about how a matter such as terminal illness is handled. The emotional interdependence presumably



References: Barker, R. L. (ED). (2003). The Social work dictionary (5th ed.) Baltimore, MD: NASW Press. Clair, M.St., (2000). An unfortunate family: terminal illness and the altering of the attachment Bond Davis, B.D., Cowley, S., & Ryland, R. (1996). The effects of terminal illness on patients and careers Ecke van, Y., Chope, R.C., & Emmelkamp, P.M. (2006), Bowlby and Bowen: attachment theory and family therapy Fraser, B., McKay, L., & Pease, L., (2010). Interview with Michael Kerr. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 31(1), 100 – 109. Klever, P. (2005). Multigenerational stress and nuclear family functioning. Contemporary Family Therapy, 27 (2), 233 – 250. Murdock, N., & Gore, P. (2004). Stress, coping, and differentiation of self: a test of Bowen Theory Nichols, M., & Schartz, R., (2009). The essentials of family therapy, 4/e. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Waldrop, D., (2007). Caregiver grief in terminal illness and bereavement: a mixed-methods Study Wright, J., (2009). Self-soothing – a recursive intrapsychic and relational process: the Contribution of the Bowen Theory to the process of self-soothing www.thebowencenter.org/pages/theory.html retrieved on October 16, 2011 at 4:30p.m. www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-terminal-illness.htm retrieved on November 1, 2011 at 1:15 a.m. Zastrow, C., & Kirst-Ashman, K. (Ed). (2007). Understanding human behavior and the social Environment (7th ed.) Belmont, California: Brooks/Cole.

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