Lecture 6 Flashcards
Why use genograms?
Map of family
Prompt for therapist
Used in reports and assessments
Who was Murray Bowen?
1913-1990 Psychiatrist Post war ( aka multi- generational therapy) Major intent - investigate mother/ child relationship- develop differentiation
“ It’s hard to see parents and children ( 3/4 generations ) together without noticing their resemblances that go beyond physical to pattens of behaviour and emotion”
Blume. 2006
Principles of Bowen
Unresolved issues influence family patterns.
Low level of differentiation causes fusion- hard to maintain their own autonomy
Individuality and togetherness
Get past blaming by active enquiry
Main goals of Bowen
Reduce anxiety by awareness of the emotional system
Increase levels of differentiation
“ I am a seperate person and choice maker, instead of blaming and remaining stuck”
Differentiation of self
Ability to remain ones self in face of a group. To be able to think and not respond automatically
Understands intellect functioning and emotional functioning
Opposite to fusion
Selfhood
Emotional triangle
Anxiety to overwhelming a third person is brought in to help manage the conflict
Letting off steam with that third person
Reduce ms stress
Nuclear family
Often choose partners with similar differentiation to ourselves
Nuclear family seen as two adults - two children
Patterns to observe - conflict, spouse dysfunction, impacted functioning of the child , distance/ isolation
Emotional cut off
Reaction to fusion
Family projection process
Children develop symptoms of being caught up in family issues
Parenting projecting their emotional problems into child ( impairs functioning of the child )
Multi generational transmission
Presence of the past
Conditioning of the past
Looking at family origin to understand pathology passed on
Sibling position
Birth order influences child in family dynamics
Problems between spouses could be influenced by birth order
Societal regression or emotional process
Phenomena of increasing divorce rates, drug culture are symptoms of more anxious periods
Process and stages
Assessments through evaluation interviews
Fascilitating awareness of how the emotional system functions
Think and reflect about family structure
therapist ( Bowen )
Therapist must self- develop and come from a non anxious place
Asks questions to foster self-reflection and directs them one at a time to family members, rather than encouraging family dialogues
Control reactions and triangulations and nudge people to accept more responsibility.
Helps develop insight
