Differentiation Of Self, By Murray Bowen

In the article “Toward the differentiation of self in one’s family of origin”, by Murray Bowen, he speaks of family systems therapy. The goal is to have the members of the family reach a better level of “differentiation of self”. The first method of family therapy of relieving symptoms was ineffective. Then came the triangle method, that put the two parents and the therapist could remain “differentiated” from the two. He then talks of how trainees from the 1967 conference used the concepts discussed in the conference, of the most important triangle in life and teachings of “person to person” relationships. These trainees took them home with their visits to their parents and used them. Coming back and they would report the visit. He found these …show more content…
While at infancy a person is physically different from the mother, emotionally can time a varied amount of time. With the father it usually has to do with the relationship the father has with the mother, that determines how long the child’s differentiation is from him. This varying time and condition is reflected in the person's marriage and children. This is determined under the Differentiation of Self Scale. People on the bottom, are the most undifferentiation and the top are people who have complete differentiation. These people will live very different lifestyles. In the emotional cut-off he speaks of how people sever their relationship with their parents. For example running away, gaining a sense of Independence. He is more likely to be a relationship “nomad” in the future. When it comes to life patterns,The amount of anxiety, in the family, can be parallel to to the degree of unresolved emotional attachments. One way to help thi is the an “open” relationship, where the family share emotional contact with each other. When people cut-off their parental families, they look for social relationship to fill that hole. When they cause pain they leave and find another, and they become more …show more content…
This was the most interesting part of the whole article for me. Bowen mentioned that the group of trainees he had as the best he ever had before, and this was intriguing. An idea that is always floated around in therapist is given resolution. How could someone who does not know what they are talking about or even been through it tell me what’s wrong with my family? In Bowen teachings, he develops not only an answer to this question, but better overall results. When he teaches the trainees in family therapy, he has the trainees themselves practice/apply the methods to their own families. They then take these practices and meet once a week to discuss them. This is just like a couple showing up once a week for therapy. This practice by Bowen gave the trainees to truly see that the methods worked and they now had the confidence to really work with the couples and families that came in and use those methods because they knew they worked. Doing this not only greatly improved their family therapy skills, but answered the questions of “How do you know this will work?”, or “ How can you tell me how to run my family? These therapist are able to reference that they not only learned it, but applied to their own lives and