According to Bowen, Family Systems Theory Views the Family as

Welcome to this video about the Bowen Family Systems Theory. Murray Bowen was a psychiatrist who began his career in psychiatry at Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas and afterwards worked at the National Found of Mental Wellness and Georgetown Academy.

Bowen was interested in the social, psychological, and physical aspects of psychiatry and came to believe that a person must be viewed in the context of family unit.

In the 1960s, Bowen introduced the Family Systems Theory, which focused less on the private's psyche and more on the private'south relationships.

Bowen considered the family every bit an emotional unit with each member of the family unit affecting every other member so that an individual is a reflection of, and inseparable from, the family.

Family Systems Theory is based on 8 interconnected concepts, which are not sequential. These include:

• Relational triangles
• Scale of differentiation
• The nuclear family emotional process
• The family projection process
• The multigenerational transmission process
• Sibling position
• Emotional cutoff AND
• The societal emotional process

Allow'due south talk virtually these concepts i at a time.

According to Bowen, the triangle is the basic unit of any emotional system, which is comprised of interlocking triangles, such every bit those found in nuclear and extended families.

Triangles are inherently unstable considering they are composed of a dyad and an outsider. A dyad, which consists of 2 people, is an unstable system because information technology tends to fall apart with stress.

But, when one member of an plain stable dyad is stressed or unhappy, the dyad becomes unstable and the 3rd person creates a dissimilar stable dyad, leaving one person in the original dyad the outsider, and this process continues, triangle after triangle.

In a calm state, the preferred position is in the dyad, so the outsider will attempt to bring together, just in a tension state, the outsider position is preferred because it is outside of the conflict.

In any triangle, the uncomfortable 1 makes the move. The triangle is in constant motion as tensions arise and new interlocking triangles are formed.

Bowen believed that the tensions created in the triangles are passed on from the top downward equally dyads form and break apart and new triangles are added to try to bring virtually equilibrium, so if an private has problems, such equally mental wellness or behavioral issues, then the therapist needs to look not at the individual, merely at those at the top of the triangles.

The adjacent concept is the scale of differentiation. Bowen stated that human being operation lies along a continuum from low self-differentiation (immature) to loftier (mature). This is one of the almost of import concepts in Family Systems Theory.

At the lower end of the scale, feelings and the intellect are merged and people are unable to differentiate between feelings and thoughts. If they experience something, that is what they believe, and then they are in an unfree state.

Because they are ruled by their feelings, they often expend and so much free energy reacting to others and seeking dear and attention that they tin can be miserable. They may be very dogmatic in their beliefs and may insubordinate. They have a poorly divers sense of self and are immature.

Those higher on the scale, on the other mitt, take an awareness of both their feelings and intellect, so they are in a free state. They can react with feelings but notwithstanding apply intellect because they are separate. These people have more individuality, a more than clearly defined sense of self, and more maturity.

People tend to marry or partner with someone who is most at the aforementioned level on the calibration, and then they accept approximately the same level of emotional maturity.

Another concept is that of the nuclear family unit emotional process. The nuclear family consists of the female parent, father, and children. Bowen stated that in that location is a stock-still amount of immaturity in any nuclear family that must exist dealt with in some style.

A typical feature of a nuclear family is that problems tend to come to residue more in one person than another.

According to Bowen, there are four relationship patterns common to families:

• Marital or partner conflict.
• Dysfunction of one spouse or partner.
• Impairment of one or more of the children.
• Emotional distance from one some other.

Bowen discussed the core human relationship between two people, such as the man and the woman, stating that one always gives style to the other. They attain a state of equilibrium if each invests equal psychic energy in each other, but problems arise if i cannot fulfill this.

For example, if some of the woman's psychic energy is directed to a kid, causing instability in the human relationship, the human may brainstorm to experience unloved and cut himself off.

People tend to marry spouses or partner with someone whose family of origin had a similar dynamic as their own and so they often duplicate that organization when edifice their own family, only immaturities that they bring with them must exist dealt with, commonly in 1 of 3 ways:

• First, they keep their distance from each other and so they tin can office, often fighting and making upward.
• 2d, one experiences physical, emotional, or social dysfunction, such every bit drinking, trouble with the constabulary, loss of job, or physical ailments such as asthma or arthritis AND
• 3rd, the problems are projected onto a child and into the adjacent generation.

The family project process is the adjacent major concept. Projection typically occurs in all families to some extent. The kid takes on some of the tension and stress, providing some relief to the parents, so parents are oftentimes non motivated to solve the bug between each other.

In most cases, project involves only one or two children while other children remain unscathed. Then, children in a dysfunctional family unit may accept very different experiences.

First children are often the target, just projection tin besides be aimed at the youngest or at a disabled child.

Most often, the female parent projects onto the child because their relationship tends to be the closest, although it can occur with the father every bit well. The more the child is impacted by project, the more than the child'south life is likely to become disorganized.

Another concept is the multigenerational transmission process. Bug tin can move down from a distant part of a system (such equally from the parent's families of origin), and go evident in an individual in the nuclear family.

The child who is the victim of marked projection typically is further downward the scale of differentiation than the parents and has more impairment, resulting in regression that is passed on to the next generation because, think, people tend to ally those who have the same level of differentiation and echo the patterns that they experienced.

For this reason, some families tend to flourish over fourth dimension and move up the scale and others tend to increasingly regress and move down the scale.

Another of import concept is that of sibling position. Bowen stated that a large amount of one'southward personality is determined by sibling position in the family.

For example, the oldest children are often probable to exist the almost responsible and to larn the expectations of the parents toward their gender roles. These children are ofttimes highly motivated and become leaders.

Centre children often receive less attention, and this tin can make them insecure but also more independent.

The youngest may have the least expectation and remain the "baby" in a sense. However, if an oldest child receives projection, this child may take on the characteristics of a younger child because the projection impairs the child'southward development.

In some cases, people choose emotional cutoff, which ways they altitude themselves from others in the family system in order to reduce stress equally a solution to problems, such as unresolved zipper bug.

Sometimes, people achieve emotional cutoff by moving away or simply visiting less oft because visits can cause emotional stress as old interactions resurface. However, emotional cutoff is not always a solution as the stress from emotional cutoff is sometimes intense.

The concept of the societal emotional process extends the nuclear family emotional process to that of society, showing that society goes through periods of regression during which it is more than unstable.

This instability may be influenced by many dissimilar factors, such equally environmental changes, economic health, and overpopulation. As differentiation erodes, society focuses more than on feelings and less on rationality, resulting in chaos.

When applying the Family Systems Theory to therapy, the therapist focuses less on the individual and more on the relationships that have shaped the individual.

As office of therapy, Bowen advised creating all-encompassing family genograms by interviewing an individual'south family members to develop a comprehensive family history going back for at least 3 generations in society to empathize family unit dynamics.

All family members are encouraged to share thoughts and feelings related to their roles in the family. The family and so works together to find solutions to their problems and to learn how to provide support to each other.

Thanks for watching and happy studying!

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Source: https://www.mometrix.com/academy/bowen-family-systems/

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