Family standing hand-in-hand on the beach Family systems therapy draws on systems thinking in its view of the family every bit an emotional unit of measurement. When systems thinking—which evaluates the parts of a system in relation to the whole—is practical to families, it suggests beliefs is both often informed by and inseparable from the functioning of ane'south family of origin.

Families experiencing conflict within the unit and seeking professional aid to address it may find family systems therapy a helpful approach.

  • The Development of Family Systems Therapy
  • Family Systems Therapy Approaches
  • Family Systems Therapy and the Genogram
  • Eight Interlocking Concepts ofFamily Systems Theory
  • How Can Family Systems Therapy Assist?
  • Limitations and Concerns

The Evolution of Family Systems Therapy

Family systems therapy is based on Murray Bowen's family unit systems theory, which holds that individuals are inseparable from their network of relationships. Like other psychoanalysts of his time, Murray Bowen was interested in creating more scientific and objective handling processes equally an alternative to conventional diagnostic frameworks and pathological language. Bowen believed all therapists had experienced challenges within their family of origin and that an sensation of this could aid therapists normalize man behavior for people in treatment.

Bowen introduced family systems theory in the late 1960s after years of enquiry into the family unit patterns of people with schizophrenia who were receiving treatment and the patterns of his ain family of origin.

Traditional individual therapy frequently addresses the individual'due south inner psyche in order to generate change in relationships and other aspects of life. Bowen's theory suggests it is beneficial to address the structure and beliefs of the broader human relationship system, which he believed to play a function in the germination of character. According to Bowen, changes in behavior of i family unit fellow member are probable to have an influence on the way the family functions over time.

Family Systems Therapy Approaches

Many forms of family therapy are based on family systems theory. Family systems approaches by and large fall under the categories of structural, strategic, or intergenerational:

  • Structural family therapy, designed by Salvador Minuchin, looks at family relationships, behaviors, and patterns as they are exhibited within the therapy session in lodge to evaluate the structure of the family. Employing activities such every bit role play in session, therapists also examine subsystems within the family structure, such as parental or sibling subsystems.
  • Strategic family therapy, developed by Jay Haley, Milton Erickson, and Cloe Madanes, among others, examines family processes and functions, such as communication or problem-solving patterns, past evaluating family behavior outside the therapy session. Therapeutic techniques may include reframing or redefining a problem scenario or using paradoxical interventions (for example, suggesting the family take action seemingly in opposition to their therapeutic goals) in order to create the desired change. Strategic family therapists believe alter tin can occur quickly, without intensive assay of the source of the problem.
  • Intergenerational family unit therapy acknowledges generational influences on family and individual behavior. Identifying multigenerational behavioral patterns, such every bit direction of anxiety, tin help people come across how their current bug may exist rooted in previous generations. Murray Bowen designed this approach to family therapy, using information technology in treatment for individuals and couples too as families. Bowen employed techniques such equally normalizing a family's challenges by discussing similar scenarios in other families, describing the reactions of individual family members instead of interim them out, and encouraging family members to respond with "I" statements rather than accusatory statements.

Family Systems Therapy and the Genogram

A genogram, or pictorial representation of a family'southward medical history and interpersonal relationships, can be used to highlight psychological factors, hereditary traits, and other meaning bug or past events that may impact psychological well-being.

Bowen used genograms for both assessment and handling. First, he would interview each member of the family in social club to create a detailed family unit history going back at least three generations. Bowen then used this data to assistance highlight important information as well every bit any behavioral or mental wellness concerns repeating across generations. He initially believed information technology took three generations for symptoms of schizophrenia to manifest inside the family, though he later on revised this estimate to x generations.

Eight Interlocking Concepts of Family Systems Theory

Eight major theoretical concepts course the foundation of the Bowenian approach. These concepts are interconnected, and a thorough understanding of each may be necessary in order to understand the others.

These theoretical constructions include, in no item gild:

  1. Differentiation of self, the core concept of Bowen's approach, refers to the manner in which a person is able to split thoughts and feelings, respond to feet, and cope with the variables of life while pursuing personal goals. An individual with a high level of differentiation may be better able to maintain individuality while yet maintaining emotional contact with the grouping. A person with a low level of differentiation may experience emotional fusion, feeling what the group feels, due to insufficient interpersonal boundaries between members of the family unit. Highly differentiated people may be more likely to attain contentment through their ain efforts, while those with a less-developed self may seek validation from other people.A teenager sits on sofa with parents and shows them how to use a laptop
  2. An emotional triangle represents the smallest stable network of human human relationship systems (larger relationship systems tin can exist perceived as a network of interlocking triangles). A 2-person dyad may exist for a fourth dimension but may become unstable as anxiety is introduced. A three-person organization, however, may provide more resources toward managing and reducing overall anxiety inside the group. Despite the potential for increased stability, many triangles establish their own rules and be with ii sides in harmony and one side in disharmonize—a situation which may lead to difficulty. Information technology is mutual for children to become triangulated within their parents' human relationship.
  3. The family project process, or the transmission of a parent's anxiety, human relationship difficulties, and emotional concerns to the child inside the emotional triangle, may contribute to the development of emotional issues and other concerns in the kid. The parent(s) may outset focus anxiety or worry onto the child and, when the child reacts to this past experiencing worry or anxiety in plough, may either try to "fix" these concerns or seek professional assist. However, this may often have further negative impact every bit the kid begins to exist further affected past the concern and may go dependent on the parent to "prepare" it. What typically leads to the most improvement in the child is management, on the part of the parent(s), of their own concerns.
  4. The multigenerational manual process, according to Bowen, depicts the way that individuals seek out partners with a similar level of differentiation, potentially leading sure behaviors and weather to be passed on through generations. A couple where each partner has a low level of differentiation may take children who have fifty-fifty lower levels of differentiation. These children may eventually take children with even lower levels of differentiation. When individuals increment their levels of differentiation, according to Bowen, they may be able to break this design, achieve relief from their symptoms of low differentiation, and forbid symptoms from returning or occurring in other family members.
  5. An emotional cutoff describes a situation where a person decides to best manage emotional difficulties or other concerns within the family unit system by emotionally distancing themselves from other members of the family unit. Cutting emotional connections may serve as an attempt to reduce tension and stress in the relationship and handle unresolved interpersonal issues, but the terminate result is often an increase in anxiety and tension, although the relationship may be less fraught with readily apparent conflict. Bowen believed emotional cutoff would lead people to place more than importance on new relationships, which would add stress to those relationships, in turn.
  6. Sibling position describes the tendency of the oldest, middle, and youngest children to presume specific roles within the family due to differences in expectation, parental discipline, and other factors. For example, older children may be expected to act equally miniature adults inside the family unit setting. These roles may exist influenced by the sibling position of parents and relatives.
  7. The societal emotional process illustrates how principles affecting the emotional system of the family too impact the emotional system of society. Individuals in club may feel greater feet and instability during periods of regression, and parallels can be noted between societal and familial emotional function. Factors such as overpopulation, the availability of natural resource, the health of the economy, and so on tin influence these regressive periods.
  8. The nuclear family emotional process reflects Bowen'south belief that the nuclear family tends to experience bug in four principal areas: intimate partner conflict, problematic behaviors or concerns in one partner, emotional distance, and impaired functionality in children. Anxiety may atomic number 82 to fights, arguments, criticism, under- or over-performance of responsibilities, and/or distancing behavior. Though a person's particular belief system and attitude toward relationships may impact the evolution of issues according to relationship patterns, Bowen held them to be primarily a issue of the family emotional system.

How Can Family Systems Therapy Help?

Family systems therapy has been used to treat many mental and behavioral health concerns. In general, it may exist considered an constructive arroyo for those concerns that appear to chronicle to or manifest within the family of origin. Family unit systems therapy has been shown to be effective with families, couples, and individuals.

This approach may be helpful in addressing conditions such as schizophrenia, alcohol and substance dependency, bipolar, feet, personality issues, depression, and eating and food bug.

Limitations and Concerns

Though Bowenian family systems therapy is a pop mode of treatment that both therapists and people in treatment have attested to the effectiveness of the approach, at nowadays there is a express base of empirical testify backing the approach. Though the testify base of operations is growing, more than data—particularly from objective sources—may assist confirm its efficacy.

A second criticism of the approach is the seemingly unwavering neutrality of its practitioners. Some mental health experts believe that by remaining neutral, unaffected, or silent at all costs, practitioners of family systems therapy may exist giving tacit approval to any harmful behaviors individuals in therapy may be exposing themselves or other people to.

References:

  1. Baege, Thou. (2005). Bowen family systems theory. Retrieved from http://world wide web.vermontcenterforfamilystudies.org/bowen_family_systems_theory
  2. Dark-brown, J. (2008). Is Bowen theory nevertheless relevant in the family therapy field? Journal of the Counsellors  and Psychotherapists Association of NSW Inc, three, 11-17. Retrieved from http://www.thefsi.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Is-Bowen-Theory-still-relevant-in-the-Family-Therapy-field.docx.pdf
  3. Brown, J. (2012). Growing yourself upwardly: How to bring your best to all of life'due south relationships (three-v). Wollombi, NSW: Exisle Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.thefsi.com.au/u.s.a./bowen-theory
  4. Family Solutions Institute. (2015.) Strategic & Systemic. Family unit Solutions Found MFT Study Guide (Chapter 4). Retrieved from http://www.mftlicense.com/pdf/sg_chpt4.pdf
  5. Introduction to the genogram. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.genopro.com/genogram
  6. ​Kerr, G. E. (2000). One family's story: A primer on Bowen theory. Retrieved from https://www.thebowencenter.org/theory/eight-concepts
  7. Winek, J.L. (2010). Systemic family unit therapy: From theory to practice. London: SAGE Publications, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/29841_Chapter5.pdf