Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Bowen Family Theory and Its Uses
The Bowen Family Theory and Its Uses
C. Margaret Hall
International
Psychotherapy Institute
C O NTENTS
Foreword by Michael E. Kerr, M.D.
Preface
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PA R T I
THEORY
C hapter 1
T heoretical Perspectives
15
C hapter 2
Family Process
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C hapter 3
T h e Eight Processes
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P A R T II
A PPL IC A TIO N S
C hapter 4
O n e s O w n Family of O rig in
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C hapter 5
H e alin g Processes
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C hapter 6
A ging Institutionalization
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C hapter 7
A V oluntaristic Model of W om an
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C hapter 8
Form al O rganizations
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P A R T III
ISSUES A N D IM P L IC A T IO N S
Chapter 9
T h e Bowen T h e o ry as T h e o ry
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Chapter 10
Science
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Chapter 11
E volu tion
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Chapter 12
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Chapter 13
T o w a rd a G eneral T h e o ry of
H u m a n Behavior
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References
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Index
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FOREWORD
Michael E. Kerr, M .D .
When I was asked to write a foreword for this third printing o f Dr.
M argaret H alls book, The Bowen Family Theory and Its Uses, which was
first published in 1981, I was delighted to do it. The publishers asked that,
in addition to making some comments about Dr. Hall and her book, I
discuss some of the developments in Bowen theory during the past decade.
I first met M argaret Hall around 1970 at Georgetown University, where
she was a sociology professor and I was, at that time, a psychiatric resident.
Dr. M urray Bowen had been in Georgetowns Departm ent o f Psychiatry
about ten years at that point, so his family program was well established.
Both Dr. Hall and I were regular participants in Bowens various teaching
conferences. M urray Bowen lived by the principle, You only have what you
give away, so, from the time o f his arrival at Georgetown in September 1959
until his death in October 1990, he was extremely available to medical
students, residents, hospital staff, faculty, and others in the community.
Dr. Hall made numerous presentations about theory and about her own
family at these teaching conferences and at other meetings. She also had
many private discussions with Bowen about his theory and therapeutic
approach. These discussions enabled her to write about aspects o f Bowens
ideas that he did not have time to write about himself. This material gives
her book a unique value. People who had done a reasonable job o f learning
the theory and of integrating it into their lives were frequently prodded by
Bowen to write. He could not do it all himself, and M argaret Hall was one
o f the first to accept his challenge. Others had written papers, but she was
the first to do a book. Bowen never said he necessarily agreed with all o f her
interpretations o f his theory, but he helped her as much as he could to
understand his ideas. Dr. Bowen took a similar stance with me when I wrote
my part o f Family Evaluation: A n A pproach Based on Bowen Theory (W. W.
N orton & C o., 1988), a stance he described in the epilogue o f the book. He
supported and respected my effort, but he left it to the reader to distinguish
any differences between Kerr and Bowen.
Learning Bowen theory requires an em otional change in the learner,
because in the absence o f such a change, the tendency is to m odify the theory
to fit ones pre-existing mindset rather than to critically examine that m ind
set. It is easier to view Bowen theory through the lens o f conventional
Forew ord
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Forew ord
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ninth concept in the theory, a concept about which he did several pre
sentations, but none were ever written and published.
My understanding o f Bowens budding ninth concept is that it repre
sents an extension o f earlier writings. The idea is that the content o f a
belief may not be verifiable, but the beliefs effects on the functioning of
the individual and the family are potentially verifiable. By separating the
fu n ctio n o f a belief from its content, it can be incorporated into the
theory, at least to the extent that that function is verifiable. Someone may
recover from a cancer on the basis o f holding a false belief, but he does
recover. Bowen extended the function o f belief concept to dealing with
spiritual and other supernatural phenom ena.
The opposite o f subjectivity is objectivity, the meaning o f the latter
term being the subject o f much debate in the mental health field. Bowen
was specific about what he meant by objectivity, preferring the term
em otional objectivity. Em otional objectivity implies that intellectual
functioning can be sufficiently separate from em otional reactions, feel
ings, and other subjective experience to describe these phenom ena fac
tually. It is possible to study hum an em otional functioning in a way similar
to studying plate tectonics, ant behavior, or the solar system. Obviously,
it is more difficult to separate facts from feelings in reference to studying
ourselves as opposed to the ants, but we have the capacity to move tow ard
such objectivity. It is possible for a person to be reacting emotionally to
others, to have his thinking deluged with subjectively based notions, and
to know th at this is happening. The therapy is based on using factual
knowledge about em otional process to make decisions for self that are not
governed by the em otionality o f self and others.
People committed to the conventional notion that it is the ability to be
aware o f and to express feelings that is im portant in therapy sometimes
equate emotional objectivity with the psychological defense mechanism of
intellectualization. A frequently heard criticism is that therapy based on
Bowen theory does not deal with feelings adequately. There is a difference
between em otional objectivity and intellectualization, but this difference
is not easily explained to someone steeped in conventional thinking.
The feeling and subjective side o f hum an beings obscures a view of
hum an relationship systems. Strong feeling reactions can narrow the
observing lens, limiting the number o f variables taken into account in the
description o f a family or social problem. This is not to say that feelings
are bad, but they can have this narrowing effect, especially during periods
o f heightened anxiety. In an anxious environm ent, it requires significant
intellectual discipline to see all sides o f the problem . Autom atic feeling
responses compel people to take sides, to assign blame, to get judgm ental,
and to cut off. People have known this down through the ages, but Bowen
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has built a coherent theory around the idea, making differentiation o f self
the cornerstone o f the theory.
One aspect o f the concept o f differentiation that has been amplified in
recent years is the distinction between Bowen theorys concept o f self and
conceptualizations o f self by various psychological and philosophical the
ories. Grasping this distinction depends on understanding the concept o f the
emotional system.
The theory posits that all forms o f life have an em otional system. The
emotional system pertains to what an organism does autom atically to p ro
mote its well-being and survival. Cells react emotionally, and so do ants and
people. Experience during the developmental years can shape emotional
behavior, especially in forms o f life with complex nervous systems and social
organizations. Feelings are not equivalent to em otional reactivity in that
feelings are only those aspects o f emotional reactivity that are experienced
subjectively. Most emotional reactivity is not felt. For example, one does not
feel ones cells dividing; it would be too distracting. So while psychological
and feeling processes are im portant influences on hum an behavior, such
processes do not adequately explain behavior.
The emotional system is the basic driving force for the patterns o f inter
action observed in relationship systems. Differentiation o f self makes sense
only in the context of the emotionally governed relationship system. D if
ferentiation refers to the capacity to be an emotionally separate person while
in contact with the forces in the relationship system that prom ote the op
posite, namely emotional fusion. In some respects, concepts o f self in various
psychological and philosophical theories describe characteristics o f the in
dividual similar to Bowens concept o f differentiation, but these other con
cepts o f self are not the same because they do not conceptualize both
differentiation and the emotionally governed relationship system. Bowens
concept o f self also differs from other theories in that it is much m ore than
a psychological concept; it is rooted in m ans evolutionary heritage. Em o
tional distance is not equivalent to em otional separateness or differentiation.
Em otional distance is a reaction to em otional fusion.
The concept of the emotional system underlines a fundam ental assum p
tion of Bowens, namely that to move toward a science o f hum an behavior,
a theory must be consistent with knowledge about evolution and natural
systems. Most theories o f hum an behavior emphasize what makes m an
different from other forms of life. The assum ption is that our enormous
reasoning capacity and complex culture so surpass other forms o f life that
we constitute a special case. This viewpoint generally goes on to state that
hum an beings have retained certain biological imperatives such as sexual
and aggressive urges, but most mental illness is created by psychological
F orew ord
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PREFACE
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Preface
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INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
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Introduction
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Part I
Theory
Chapter 1
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Historical Background
Bowen has been developing his family theory for more than
twenty-five years. In the United States in the early 1950s,
M urray Bowen, N athan Ackerman, Virginia Satir, Don
Jackson, and other pioneer family clinicians used a family
perspective to examine and understand individual behavior.
Bowens early family research at the National Institutes of
Mental Health focused on mother-child relationships in families
with a schizophrenic child. To work more effectively with these
families and to describe other family relationships and other
patterns of behavior, Bowen articulated a series of concepts that
represent the family as an emotional system, and schizophrenia
as a family problem. Bowen postulates that these concepts
describe emotional processes in all families rather than
emotional processes peculiar to families in clinical populations.
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Theoretical Perspectives
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Theoretical Perspectives
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Sociological Contributions
1. Bowens concepts suggest universals in hum an behavior
that extend beyond the descriptive studies of family cultural
variations characteristic of the field of sociology. His work is an
attempt to show that human nature and human behavior are
components of evolutionary processes rather than products of
historical or cultural contingency.
2. Bowens family concepts have a broader scope than role
analyses. According to Bowen, behavior emanates from a self
which is only partly influenced by wider cultural forces.
3. As any group can be considered an emotional system,
Bowens family theory can be applied to behavior in other social
settings. It may be thought of as a middle-range theory, as the
empirical context of this family paradigm is a limited social
setting, which can be documented more easily and accurately
than other concepts.
4. Bowens concepts suggest prediction as well as description.
Although many of these predictions may remain substantively
unverified for generations to come, some limited predictions can
be made in individual families from accumulated case histories.
5. The Bowen theory indicates the possibility of viewing
family dependency and patterns of family interaction as
independent variables in research on hum an behavior. Although
a division between independent and dependent variables may be
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Theoretical Perspectives
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H istory
Theoretical Perspectives
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Theoretical Perspectives
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Theoretical Perspectives
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Chapter 2
FAMILY PROCESSES
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Family Processes
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Pairs w ith D issim ilar B ack grou n d s but w ith Sim ilar
F u n ctio n in g Levels
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Family Processes
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Family Processes
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Family Processes
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R ecen t T rends
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Family Processes
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Family Processes
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Family Processes
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Stren gth s
1.
In either an ideal-type nuclear family or an ideal-type
commune, the relationship system can become overburdened by
excessive investments of emotions and feelings in togetherness.
Role options are limited by the strong pull toward togetherness,
and the relationship system becomes rigid and restrictive.
Family Processes
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Chapter 3
TH E E IG H T P R O C E S S E S
Differentiation of Self
Differentiation of self is a key concept in the Bowen family
theory. Any given level of differentiation represents the extent to
which a person is embedded in the emotional matrix that binds
human beings together. An individual may have a relatively
separate self, with a calm posture to others, or a soluble self in
the emotional field, with intense and anxious bonds with others.
Three important factors that influence differentiation are the
degree of bonds with others, the level of anxiety in self and the
relationship network, and the degree of emotional cut-off with
others.
Bowen hypothesizes that any relaxation in efforts to be a self
leads toward the obliteration of self. Anxiety in self and in the
relationship system tends to annihilate self, as the more social
and changing parts of self become increasingly soluble in the
emotional matrix.
Bowen originally described the ranges of differentiation of self
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triads differ from Bowen in that they do not account for ranges
of emotional intensity and dependency in three-person
relationships. For example, their much used concept of power
does not adequately describe the full spectrum of complexities
and nuances of emotional responsiveness and reactivity in
family relationships. From the Bowen theory perspective of
emotional systems, power more accurately represents specific
aspects of relationships.
Research findings cannot yet provide accurate assessments of
the influences that different groups have on their members or on
society at large. Patterns of family interaction are not usually
conceptualized as significant determinants of behavior in the
social sciences, even though families manifest more emotional
intensity and have more clearly identifiable patterns of behavior
than do other groups. Bowens concept of triangles provides a
means for strengthening and clarifying some of the research
dealing with family and group influences on individual and
social behavior.
T herapeutic C o n sid era tio n s
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O nes O w n F am ily
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People find many ways to cut off from each other. A close
examination of the triangular substructure of the family
relationship system facilitates the prediction of cut-offs and
contributes toward describing cut-offs that have already
occurred.
The pervasiveness of loneliness and misunderstandings
between members of different generations in contem porary
society suggests high frequencies of emotional cut-offs in
families and other relationship systems. Although loneliness and
distance between generations have always existed to some
extent, these phenomena have reached problem dimensions in
contemporary society.
Before social and geographical mobility were possible for
large numbers of people, cut-offs appear to have been largely
handled by intrapsychic and somatic mechanisms, such as
withdrawal, sickness, or accidents. Although it is difficult to
determine precisely what part self plays in a cut-off, a cut-off is
more than a defense mechanism for an individual. Emotional
cut-offs have implications for others beyond a single individuals
withdrawal from an anxiety-laden relationship.
Emotional cut-offs in families have intergenerational
consequences. One of the more predictable and more visible
outcomes is that when a parent generation cuts off from the
grandparent generation, there is a strong likelihood that the
children of these parents will also cut off. Hypothetically, the
more an individual cuts off from the family of origin, the more
that persons children are likely to cut off relationships in the
future. A cut-off from the parent generation is frequently
justified as making a break from a difficult past for the sake of
living in a more ideal present. However, such reasoning is an
emotional reaction to the anxiety in the relationships that have
been cut off.
The ultimate emotional cut-off is death. Premature and
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than if it had lasted for a short period of time. The stability and
rigidity of a cut-off suggest the strength of the feelings invested in
the cut-off. The stronger the feelings invested, the more rigidified
the cut-off becomes. These kinds of indicators provide a basis for
measuring and refining the concept of emotional cut-off for
further research.
Emotional cut-off describes a pattern of family interaction
that can be observed fairly easily. Generalizations about the
social consequences of cut-offs and about the incidence of cut
offs in the wider society may be inferred from accumulated data
on families. Data collected in clinical settings suggest some
practical applications and implications of the concept of cut-off.
The Bowen theory views emotional cut-off as an integral part of
emotional process and change within families and in society.
A few meaning elements of the concept of emotional cut-off
can be highlighted by referring to Bowen family theory ideas that
describe obverse processes. Whereas an effective differentiation
of self culminates in changes in basic self, emotional cut-off is an
immature and less successful attempt to separate self from fused
family relationships. Whereas fusion is intense togetherness,
with each participant sacrificing self to the unit twosome, an
emotional cut-off is an attempt to deal with the same
relationship intensity without sacrificing self. However, in spite
of the contrived distance, other characteristics of the rigidly
fused relationships remain. Fusion is a significant counterpart of
an emotional cut-off.
Emotional cut-offs are generally less apparent within nuclear
families than is fusion. Cut-offs are easier to observe between
parent and grandparent generations, and this kind of cut-off
intensifies the emotions of the nuclear system. If a cut-off
between generations is acute and persists for a long period of
time, behavior symptoms will surface when the nuclear family is
anxious.
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O n es O w n F am ily
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Some of the most effective kinds of contacts that one can have
in ones family of origin are with family leaders in the oldest
generations. Members of the grandparent generation frequently
have more information about the family than do other relatives.
Intergenerational contacts also provide the broadest possible
range of ages for personal relationships in ones family.
A significant outcome for a person from a young generation
who relates to members of older generations is that parents or
others in intermediate generations are affected emotionally by
the contacts made. Some of the most effective detriangling in
ones family may be accomplished on such a multigenerational
level.
Documents may have to be-used to detail research on
multigenerational transmission in ones family. For example,
genealogical records can complement and check the memories of
elders. However, the systematic research of genealogical records
is time-consuming and demands personal commitment, and this
project may necessitate taking an unpopular I position in
relation to other family members. In spite of these difficulties,
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and parents frequently view one twin as being much older than
the other. Although the first born twin is usually treated as the
older of the two, the age difference between them tends to be
exaggerated.
Family projecton is the strongest influence on the
discrepancies that can exist between chronological and
functioning sibling positions. Regardless of chronological
position, the child who is the object of a family projection is
frequently treated as a youngest, and that child behaves
accordingly. One impairing consequence of being the focus of a
family projection is that a child is encouraged to be more
dependent on the parents than are the other siblings in the
family. Family projection may be viewed as a strong neutralizing
influence on the effects of the chronological ordering or sex
distribution in a family and this process is an integral part of the
family emotional system.
Studies of sibling position behavior add another dimension to
predicting family interaction. The collection of data on sibling
positions can be an important step in identifying the essential
characteristics of a family. Information about sibling positions
in earlier generations makes prediction more accurate because
the distribution of sibling positions reflects characteristics of the
broader emotional network.
The most predictable sibling behavior occurs when there is no
oversaturation of emotional intensity in the family system.
Lower functioning levels than the predicted profiles are
attributable to the intensity of the impact of emotional
influences, such as family projection, multigenerational
transmission, loss, or cut-off.
Data on the sibling position of parents and an assessment of
whether the functioning of each parent is typical of those sibling
positions are fairly reliable indicators how a family may adapt
itself to life, to emotional forces in the extended family, and to a
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Part II
Applications
Chapter 4
O N ES OWN FAMILY O F O R IG IN
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Chapter 5
HEALING PROCESSES
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Healing Processes
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Healing Processes
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Chapter 6
AGING AN D INSTITUTIONALIZATION
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Hypotheses
Four hypotheses serve as a guide for systematizing
observations on aging and family processes:
1. Physical debilitation, symptomatic, and senile behavior of
the elderly vary directly with an individuals emotional
dependency on the family. Emotional dependency is generally
manifested as symbiotic caretaking, helping, or feeling-sorryfor behavior patterns.
2. Where symptomatic behavior patterns, including marked
economic dependency, occur at an early age, the same or similar
patterns are more likely to be repeated at older ages, especially in
times of stress.
3. When an individuals parent or grandparent, particularly a
parent or grandparent of the same sex, manifests symptoms in
old age, that individual is more likely to repeat these behavior
patterns in subsequent years.
4. The degree of alienation, isolation, or loneliness of the
elderly varies directly with the degree of emotional cut-off with
other family members.
Case Histories
Six case histories are used to document these hypotheses. The
case histories were selected from several hundred families in
clinical and nonclinical settings to illustrate different charac
teristics of family emotional processes. Three functioning and
three dysfunctioning older individuals are presented in the
context of their families. The examples are paired; each pair
consists of one functioning older person and one dysfunctioning
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from his children and from his own family of origin. Neither his
children nor his family approved of his remarriage. The
husbands symptoms increased, and his financial affairs became
too difficult for him to manage. To an increasing extent, his wife
supported him both emotionally and financially.
Findings
An older person who was an active participant in a
comparatively open emotional system appeared to function more
effectively than an older person who was cut off from or trapped
into a closed emotional system. When an older person made
effective differentiating moves in a family, aging symptoms
declined and emotional dependency on the closest family
members was reduced. An effectively differentiated older person
was generally more adept at coping with life crises, such as death,
illness, retirement, or the dysfunction of others.
In families where the elderly were dysfunctional, the number
and intensity of emotional cut-offs persisted or increased. The
quality of emotional relationships in these families was rigid,
superficial, and distant. Crises added stress to an already-tight
emotional system, and the symptomatic behavior of the older
persons increased.
Conclusion
The onset and development of symptomatic behavior in the
elderly, as in the case of other family members, are precipitated
and enhanced by crises and stresses in the family, such as the
death of a significant family member. Stresses increase the
probability that an older person will be triangled into the
emotional system of the family, and overadaptiveness after a
crisis is a typical dysfunctional response. As symptomatic
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Chapter 7
A VOLUNTARISTIC M O D E L OF W O M A N
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Woman as a Self
The Bowen family theory suggests that both women and man
are emotionally dependent beings, who are essentially products
of the intensity and complex interdependency of emotional field
forces in their nuclear and extended families. Unlike many
sociologists who suggest that women are intrinsically different
from men in their normative behavior (Parsons and Bales 1955),
Bowen emphasizes the importance of similarities in the behavior
between the sexes. He postulates that both men and women have
equal emotional dependency needs; men can be as adaptive to
women as women are to men. Only when women or men mature
and behave with fewer emotional demands on others, is
liberation, or the achievement of some degree of freedom from
family programming and cultural conditioning, likely to occur.
The efforts and processes an individual must initiate to become
less emotionally dependent on others are described by Bowen as
both challenging and anxiety-provoking. These moves also tend
to produce tensions and stresses in the immediate family of the
person who is trying to differentiate self. Both men and women
experience similar kinds of negative emotional reactivity from
close family members after they accomplish some degree of
increased autonomy. The slow, tedious, and difficult route
toward achieving a modicum of emotional maturity is thought to
follow a fairly predictable sequence of events.
Voluntarism
The Bowen family theory suggests that it is prohibitively
difficult for an individual to differentiate self if that person has
been consistently adaptive to a parent or spouse. Bowen
postulates that only a slight degree of change of self is possible in
a lifetime. Man or woman can merely become a little less
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Chapter 8
F O R M A L O R G A N IZ A T IO N S
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Form al Organizations
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Form al Organizations
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Form al Organizations
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Form al Organizations
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Form al Organizations
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Part III
Chapter 9
THE BOW EN TH EO RY
AS T H E O R Y
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precipitated by the side effects and shock wave phenom ena that
follow unexpected moves or shifts in a family relationship
system. The loss of a significant person in a family, such as the
death of a m other of young children, would have a strong impact
on a family emotional system that shock wave symptoms
following the death may be apparent for a considerable period of
time. The variety of side effects in this period of adjustment could
impede attempts to observe the usual patterns of behavior in the
family or ones plans to change position in the family.
In assessing the potential effectiveness of any single strategy or
operational directive, there is a temptation to oversimplify an
extremely complex process by implying that certain actions
precipitate certain consequences. Although family members may
react to one persons changes in a fairly predictable emotional
way, the particular kinds of emotional responses selected are not
as predictable. A detailed examination of intergenerational
processes and past behavior patterns may indicate an expected
range of possible responses. The Bowen family theory focuses
more on general emotional processes than on the particular
content or specific modes of manifestation of these processes. A
familys initial emotional reaction to a member who attempts
functional change can vary greatly in form.
Effective strategies and operational directives should opti
mally be based on as detailed a knowledge of a familys history as
possible. For example, empirical evidence of the degree and
extent of family projection in several generations may provide a
basis for predicting sibling behavior in present generations. The
processes that contribute toward a familys adjustment to a
death, rather than the fact of the death itself, may indicate the
intensity of anxiety in a family. Consideration of these nuances
increases the overall predictive capacity of the Bowen theory and
makes the specification of strategies and operational directives
more effective.
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Chapter 10
SC IE N C E
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Science
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Science
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Science
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Science
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Science
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Science
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Science
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Science
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Chapter 11
EVOLUTION
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Evolution
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Evolution
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Evolution
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Evolution
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only limited control over their lives. They may, perhaps, choose
between alternative postures to the natural forces that move all
living beings but not from am ong the unlimited range of options
that they frequently imagine they have.
H uman beings appear to be able to check their aggressive
drives through social contacts and rituals. These interactions do
not weaken or hinder the drives species-preserving function. One
of the greatest dangers of the human aggressive drive has been
defined by Freud and some of his followers as its
unpredictability. Freud showed that lack and deprivation of
social contact and rituals facilitate aggression (Lorenz 1963).
People seem to need a variety of contacts with other human
beings to preserve themselves as a living species. W ithout these
controls of interdependency, aggression becomes a destructive
force in society.
The evolutionary origin of the most complex social
organizations has frequently been considered related to kinship
groupings (Parsons 1966). Some preliterate societies remain at
highly undifferentiated levels of social, cultural, and personality
development, whereas more evolved societies appear to be
moving toward both progressive individuation and progressive
centralization. For one social structure to emerge from another,
grouping around certain individuals may be necessary
(Bertalanffy 1968).
A society may be most adequately defined as a living, open
system that as a whole functions in accordance with the
interdependence of its parts (Buckley 1968). In more complex
groupings, parts assume certain properties because they are
components of the larger whole. Some research findings indicate
that differences between inert matter and living material are
based not on intrinsic qualitative differences but on the way
substances are organized. In applying this concern to social
organization, it can be postulated that a rigid differentiation of
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Evolution
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Evolution
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Evolution
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Evolution
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Evolution
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Evolution
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Chapter 12
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than are members of an upper social class (M yers and Bean 1968).
The lower classes see only a narrow range of aggressive, antisocial
behavior as suggesting a need for psychotherapy, but the middle
and upper classes perceive a much wider range of behavior as
indicating a need for psychotherapy (D ohrenw end and ChinShong 1967). As social and econom ic resources facilitate an
individuals access to psychotherapy, a person and family from a
lower class are less likely to seek psychotherapy than those in the
middle and upper classes (Gove and Howell 1974).
The younger, urbanized, better educated, and more
modernized segments of the middle-class A m erican population,
who attend church infrequently (L uckm an 1967), are perhaps the
most likely members of our society to initiate psychotherapy.
A lthough psychotherapy does not purpo rt to have ultim ate
answers, as does religion, involvement in psychotherapy appears
to have some of the same personal dividends as religious
participation. As religious institutions become m ore secularized
and more depersonalized, psychotherapy can suggest ways to
retrieve some qualities of religious experience in a secular setting.
A lthough there is no single doctrine of psychotherapy, different
clinical approaches, such as the Bowen theory, can be viewed as
secular religions in their own right.
Conclusion
As conversion behavior may describe changes in individuals
religious and personal beliefs (Johnson 1971), the popularity of
psychotherapy may indicate more w idespread changes in social
and religious beliefs. A lthough the question of w hether religion
inform s secular society (P.E. H am m ond 1963), or w hether
secular society inform s religion (Glock 1960) cannot be
resolved, com parisons between psychotherapy and religion
suggest that it is difficult to separate the sacred and the secular in
262
Chapter 13
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
detail (Mills 1954, Stryker and Psathas 1960). H are (1962) notes
that coalitions of two against one in three-person groups are so
potent and enticing that other characteristics of the group may
not be developed.
All kinds of interpersonal relationships can be conceptualized
as active or dorm ant triangles. O verlapping and interrelated
triangles are usually more visible in families than in form al
organizations. A lthough each group m em ber has potential
relationships with the others, triangles frequently only become
activated and externalized around stress-producing or em o
tionally charged issues.
The concept of triangles is essential for an understanding of
em otional systems. M ost m anagem ent and behavioral science
literature deals prim arily with dyads or group netw orks,
although some discussion on triangles exists (Caplow 1968).
Core Group Em otional System . The concept of core group
em otional system describes and defines em otional field forces
between inner group members in a broad relationship network.
An individual perceives members of a core group to be those who
are em otionally closest, having interacted with them most
persistently and most frequently over a long period of time.
In a work setting, the core group is the inform al social group
with which an individual identifies most strongly. The core group
does not necessarily correspond to an in social group, to a
leadership group, or to a task group within the organization.
A lthough core groups may follow social or organizational
groupings, they frequently cut across them. The determ ining
factor in a core group is the degree of em otional investm ent of the
participants. An organization can be described as a com plex of
interdependent core groups.
Each core group is characterized by a small num ber of
members and unique patterns of behavior. To a certain extent
core groups reflect or respond to dependencies and anxiety in the
271
272
273
274
275
276
REFERENCES
278
References
279
280
References
281
282
References
283
284
References
285
286
References
287
288
References
289
290
References
291
292
References
293
294
INDEX
296
Index
297
and dyads, 64
and emotional cut-offs, 90, 91,
92, 99
and fusion/differentiation, 55,
61, 71-73, 83-85
as identified patients, 78
independence of, 101-102
and projection, 23-24, 81-83,
86-87,100,102,116, 209-10,
243-44
sibling position of, 110-17
socialization of, 49
Chin-Shong, E., 261, 281n.
Christensen, H .T., 50, 280n.
Coffey, R 267, 278n.
Cogswell, B.E., 46, 47, 49, 292n.
Cohen, M.G., 158, 281n.
communes, ideal-type, 47-49
companionate marriage, 49
concepts and theories, 186
confidentiality, 208
Congressional Research Service,
143, 281n.
consciousness and evolution, 235
Cooper, D., 32, 46, 50, 234, 281n.
Cotgrove, S., 219, 222, 227, 281n.
cross-cultural perspective, 21-27
culture and voluntaristic model,
163-64
298
Index
299
300
Index
Lacey, W.K., 45, 286n.
Larson, O.F., 158, 292rz.
Laumann, E.O., 260, 286n.
Lawrence, P.R., 269, 286n.
Lee, G.R., 31, 50, 286n.
Lewin, K 172, 263, 274, 286n.
life-style and self, 53, 142
Lindenthal, J.J., 257, 286n.
Lipetz, M.E., 49, 287n.
Litwak, E., 41, 158, 287n.
Litwin, G., 274, 287n.
Locke, H.J., 41, 280n.
loneliness, 147
Lorenz, K 220, 224, 235, 236,
237, 239, 287n.
Lorio, J.P., 42, 277n.
Lorsch, J.W., 269, 286n.
Loudon, J.B., 41, 287n.
Lowenthal, M.F., 158, 287n.
Luckman, T., 261, 287n.
Lundberg, G.A., 187, 221, 287n.
Lynd, R.S., 164, 287n.
Lyness, J.L., 49, 287n.
Madron, T.W., 255, 288n.
marital conflict, 103-104
Martin, R.J., 31, 50, 288n.
Maslow, A.H., 173, 288n.
Mawson, A.R., 255, 288n.
McGregor, D., 174, 288n.
medical model, 193, 217
Menninger, W.C., 4
mental hospitalization, 260-61
mental illness as term, 11
Mesmer, F.A., 256
301
302
Index
and sib lin g p o sitio n , 113,
115-16
and social emotional process,
123-24
theory in, 7-8
and triangles, 68
Queen, S., 45, 290n.
Ramey, J.W., 45, 290n.
Redlich, F 260, 285n.
reflective interaction, 141
regression, social, 120-24, 247-49
relativity theory, 219-21
reliability, 186
religion:
in case study, 33, 34
and psychotherapy, 253-62
Riesman, D., 173, 290n.
Riley, M.W., 156, 290n.
Roberts, B.S., 260, 290n.
Robin, S.S., 166, 281n.
Roethlisberger, F.J., 263, 290n.
Rogers, C.R., 263, 290n.
Rose, A.M., 156, 158, 290n.
Rosenberg, G.S., 156, 290n.
Rosow, I., 147, 155, 156, 290n.
Rosser, C., 41, 290n.
Rubin, Z., 167, 290n.
Ruitenbeek, H.M., 241, 290n.
Satir, V., 15
scapegoating, 31, 271
schizophrenia and symbiosis, 6,
7, 15
303
Schlesinger, B., 45, 46, 290n.
Schneider, D.M., 30, 290n.
Schorr, A., 158, 291n.
Schutz, W.C., 169, 264, 269, 291n.
Scott, W.G., 264, 291n.
self actualization, 173
Selznick, P., 267, 280n.
senility, 146-47, 152
seniority, 274
Shanas, E., 157, 158, 291n.
Shands, H.C., 262, 291n.
Shapiro, M., 45, 293n.
S hepard, H .A ., 169, 264, 269,
278n.
Sheper, J., 45, 291n.
Shepherd, C.R., 264, 291n.
sibling position, 24-25, 81, 110-17
and behavior, 18
categories of, 113
and differentiation, 111, 114,
116-17, 190-91
and evolution, 246-47
research on, 113-15
therapeutic considerations on,
113, 115-16
Simmel, Georg, 23, 66
S im pson, G .G ., 225, 234, 235,
240, 291n.
Simpson, I.FI., 157, 291n.
Slater, P.E., 47, 291n.
socialization, 49, 229
and cultural factors, 163
social mobility, 260
socioeconomic class:
in case study, 33, 34
304
and sampling, 22
sociology:
and emotional health, 257
and family, 3
research in, 164, 168
and Bowen theory, 19-20
Solomon, B., 157, 291n.
Spark, G.M., 36, 42, 46, 104, 140,
279n.
Speck, R., 104, 291n.
Spencer, H., 241
Stalker, G., 264, 280n.
Streib, G., 157, 158, 292n.
Stringer, R.A., 274, 287n.
Stryker, S., 276, 292n.
subjective feelings and thinking,
10-11
Index
Turner, R.H., 29, 293n.
twins, sibling position of, 111-12
United States Senate Committee
on Labor and Public Wel
fare, 160, 293n.
validity, 186
voluntaristic model of woman,
163-68
and differentiation, 165, 166
research on, 167-68
voluntarism, 165-67
woman as self, 165
Waxier, N.E., 103, 288n.
Weintraub, D., 45, 293n.
Weitzman, L.J., 163, 293n.
Wells, R.A., 257, 293n.
W hite H ouse C onference on
Aging, 160, 293n.
305
W h ite h u rst R .N ., 45, 47, 49,
286n., 293n.
Williams, W., 260, 293n.
Wilson, B 255, 293n.
Winer, L.R., 52, 293n.
Winter, G., 260, 294n.
withdrawal, 90
Wolf, W.B., 264, 294n.
Wolfe, D.M., 41, 278n.
Wolff, K.H., 23, 294n.
Work in America, 267, 294n.
Yokley, R.L., 255, 288n.
Young, M., 41, 294n.
Zelditch, M Jr., 43, 294n.
Zetterberg, H.L., 187, 188, 219,
221, 222, 294n.
Zimmerman, C.C., 31, 50, 294n.
Zinberg, N., 257, 258, 259, 294n.