Chapter 5 – Bowen Family Systems – Flashcards
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according to Bowen, what are the two counterbalancing life forces that drive relationships?
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individuality and togetherness
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how well people reconcile the polarities depends on what (Bowen)
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differentiation of self
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for Bowen, what is the most important unfinished business of our lives?
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unresolved emotional reactivity to our parents
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How did Bowen start out his theory development?
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working with schizophrenics in the Menninger Clinic and then at NIMH
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what is anxious attachment?
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a pathological form of closeness driven by anxiety
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what is the hallmark of a fused relationship?
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lack of personal autonomy
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Bowen believes that there is no discontinuity between normal and disturbed families, but rather there is what?
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a continuum of family interaction from emotional fusion to differentiation
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Name some of the prominant people in Bowen Family Systems Therapy.
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Guerin, McGoldrick, Carter, Kerr, Fogarty
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BFST are concerned with
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action (rather than insight) and technique (rather than theory)
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differentiation of self is most analogous to what?
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ego strength
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differentiation of self is
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bot intrapsychic and interpersonal
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to think and reflect rather than to react to emotional pressures is to have what?
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differentiation of self
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the major influence on the activity of triangles is what?
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anxiety
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an unfixed triangle is what?
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when a third party is temporarily involved in a relationship
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A group of three isn't necessarily what?
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a triangle. ex. if people take I-positions without trying to change the other two people, or if each twosome interacts one-on-one
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in a triangle, each twosome's interaction is tied to what?
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the behavior of the third person
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what makes triangles a problem?
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their tendency to become habitual
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triangulation
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lets off steam but freezes conflict in place
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triangles become
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chronic diversions that undermine relationships
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nuclear family emotional process refers to what?
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the concept that deals with the emotional forces in families that operate over the years in recurrent patterns
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what is an undifferentiated family ego mass?
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the term originally used by Bowen to describe an excess of fusion in a family
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lack of diff. in fam of origin might lead to parental emotional cutoff which might lead to?
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fusion in marriage
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what are four possible outcomes of unstable marital fusion?
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1) reactive emotional distance between partners, 2) physical or emotional dysfunction in one partner, 3) marital conflict, 4) projection of the problem onto children
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in a family, the child most involved in the undifferentiation (fusion)will
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move towards a lower level of diff. of self and towards anxiety
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emotional cutoff describes
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the way people manage anxiety between generations
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people and families with higher levels of diff. are better able to resist
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toxic social emotional processes (sexism, racism)
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optimal Bowenian family development is when
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diff. is high, anxiety is low, and persons are in contact with their own family
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Bowen was convinced that diff. of autonomous personality, primarily in family of origin, is both
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a description of normal development and a prescription for therapeutic improvement
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the three stages of McGoldrick and Carter's family life cycle are:
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1) leaving-home stage - this is the time to from an autonomous self, 2) joining of families through marriage - primary task is commitment to the new couple, 3) launching of children and moving-on - parents must take hold of their own lives
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in BFST, symptoms result from
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stress that exceeds a person's (or system's) ability to manage it
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basic level of diff. is determined by autonomy if fam of origin, while functional level of diff. is
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influenced by the quality of current relationships
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for Bowen, the underlying factor in the genesis of psych problems is
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emotional fusion passed from one generation to the next
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Bowenians do not try to
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change people or solve problems
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Bowenian therapy is a process of
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active inquiry
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tracing the pattern of family problems means
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paying attention to process and structure
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process refers to
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patterns of emotional reactivity
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structure refers to
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the interlocking network of triangles
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what is the vehicle of cure for Bowenians?
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understanding, not action
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what are the primary mechanisms of change for Bowenians?
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lowering anxiety and increasing self-focus
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for Bowenians, assessment is
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initial, ongoing, and detailed
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what makes a genogram dynamic?
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the inclusion of relationship conflicts, cutoffs, and triangles
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what are the frameworks for exploring emotional boundaries, fusion, etc?
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dates, realationships, and localities
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what is the one essential technique in Bowenian therapy?
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the process question
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what are process questions?
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queries designed to get clients thinking and exploring what is going on inside and between family members
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a second major technique in Bowenian therapys is?
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the relationship experiment - to help clients experience what its like to act outside of their usual emotional responses
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a major Bowenian goal is to get clients to
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think more and feel less
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what is a sign that the Bowenian therapist is entangles?
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focusing on content rather than process
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Bowen suggested what as a way to manage countertransference?
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considering oneself a coach or consultant
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what is a way for the therapist to remain autonomous?
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through the use of I-positions - nonreactive observations and statements of opinions
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Bowenians will work with individuals because
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they believe that an individual can be the fulcrum of change for an entire system
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A potential weakness of Bowenian theory is
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that talking to each member one-on-one may miss out on the power of working with families in action
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the three psychometrically measured tests of diff. are
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1) Level of Diff. of Self Scale, 2) DSI (diff. of self inventory), 3) CED (Chabot's emotional diff. scale)
