Family and Couple Therapy Lecture 2 (Murray Bowen – Transgenerational approach) – Flashcards

too much closeness or distance creates anxiety

Reduce anxiety by facilitating awareness of how the emotional system functions and increase differentiation. Assist the family towards greater levels of differentiation

Individual choices are set aside in the service of harmony in the system. can be expressed as emotional cutoff (ghosting) or a sense of intense responsibility for another's reactions. no differentiation. pathological. greater fusion equals less flexibility

individual functions autonomously. self-directed choices while remaining emotionally connected to system one's ability to separate one's own intellectual and emotional functioning from that of the family

the smallest stable relationship unit. Triangling: anxiety in the dyad is relieved by involving a a vulnerable third. the third takes sides or provides a detour to the anxiety. Greater the differentiation equals more pull to preserve emotional stability by forming triangles.

1 of 3 symptoms of fusion leading to triangling. the dyad engages in a cycle of closeness followed by conflict to create distance which results in turn leads to making up and resuming intense closeness. Conflictual cocoon binds the anxiety in a conflict cycle.

1 of 3 symptoms of fusion leading to triangling. "the reciprocal side of each spouse's transference". Each partner's roles are pushed to the extreme.

1 of 3 symptoms of fusion leading to triangling. Child develops behavioral or emotional problems.

Describes how the children develop symptoms when they get caught up in the previous generation's anxiety about relationships.

the way people manage intensity of fusion between generations. physical distance or emotional withdrawal. An escape.

How patterns, themes and roles are passed down from generations through projection from parent to child. levels of differentiation among family members can become progressively lower from one generation to the next.

Could provide information in understanding the roles individuals take in relationships.

Maintain a "differentiated" stance. Don't get sucked into a triangle. Get the family into a position of accepting responsibility for its own change.

Central technique in Bowenian theory. Facilitate family awareness of roles and triangles. Help clients become detectives in their own systems. help clients communicate a neutral position so the dyad can communicate with each other. gain a neutral stance.

give input and support for adult clients who are attempting to develop greater differentiation. emphasis on self directed detriagling.

The way interventions are used to alter what they think is pathological. Block pathological multigenerational transmission processes via enhanced self differentiation. past is active in the present., importance of social/historical data in the lives of families. how interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of life affect each other.