Bowen Family Theory

Murray Bowen brought systems thinking and an evolutionary biology view of family emotions to a fledgling science that was mired in psychoanalytic thinking and approaches, creating instead a systemic, easily understood approach to family dysfunction. While he was himself not a psychologist, his impact on the field, particularly family therapy, is still felt today. Bowen family therapy has proven effective, popular, influential, and relevant since its initial development; it can be credited with inspiring the development of many subsequent family therapies, most of which are built around Bowenian ideology. The practice of his theories and therapies have been helping families repair and function for decades.
Murray Bowen was a medical doctor, …show more content…
The goals of Bowen family therapy are (1) to lessen anxieties brought about by emotional reactivity, and (2) to increase levels of differentiation; that is, increase the ability of the over-all family system to be able to adapt and function with the inevitable vicissitudes that all families deal with (Titelman, …show more content…
A differentiated person has defined his or herself, with his or her own values, beliefs, and convictions, and responds calmly and logically when facing pressures, as opposed to erratically and emotionally. They have separated their own thoughts and feelings from the family from which they were raised, and can clearly express themselves (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2008). An undifferentiated person emotionally reacts to stressors involuntarily, being typically either submissive or argumentative (Nichols, 2013); in the same way they are unable to distinguish between thought and emotion, they are unable to differentiate themselves from others, and fuse quickly with whatever the predominant family emotions are (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2008).They look to others to define their feelings, thoughts and experiences, and lack a sense of self, or personal identity (Goldenberg & Goldenberg,