Bowen Family Model

Term Paper # 116513

Child, Youth Issues > Family Issues
Psychology > Therapies

Bowen Family Model

An overview of the Bowen family model and its theories.

2,681 words () | 5 sources | MLA | 2009 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the Bowen family model as it relates to family units, particularly those of couples. The paper explains the theories in the model and points out how they take into account account the familial situation, both current and past, and its vast power over the life of an individual. The paper concludes that the Bowen model is of great utility in the field of therapy, in that it recognized the vast importance of family upon the function of the individual members thereof, and devised methods to establish the most effective therapy possible.

Outline:
Differentiation of Self
Triangles
Nuclear Family Emotional Processes
Family Projection Process
Multigenerational Transmission Process
Sibling Position
Emotional cutoff
Societal Emotional Process
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Differentiation of self emanates from the needs required by an individual, and in the realm of health development, to separate one's own intellectual and emotional functioning from that of the family unit or iteration thereof. The family is a unit because it operates as a system. (Bowen, Kerr 10) This unit may be defined as a husband and wife traditionally, although alternate "families" are fully possible, with the prime feature irregardless of the particular situation being the melding of the individual "I's" involved in the relationship into the singular "we". This situation of maintaining distinct separateness in the face of a cohesive unit is one of conflict, with an individual's reaction sometimes being so acute as to turn into violence due to the individual's incapacity to deal with a perceived lack of a sense of oneself within a relationship."

Sample of Sources Used:

Kerr, Michael E.; Bowen, Murray. Family Evaluation: An Approach Based on Bowen Theory. W.W. Norton & Company. 1988.
Bowen, Murray. "Differentiation of Self in One's Family of Origin." Family Therapy in Clinical Practice. (1974)
Cox, Martha.; Paley, Blair. "Families as Systems." Annual Review of Psychology. 48. (1997)
Kerig, Patricia; Lindahl, Kristin. (2001) Family Observational Coding Systems: Resources for Systemic Research. Lawrence Ehrlbaum Associates Publishers: New Jersey.
Titleman, Peter. (1998) Clinical Applications of Bowen Family Systems Theory (Haworth Marriage and the Family). Haworth Press: New York, NY.