Family standing hand-in-hand on the beach Family systems therapy draws on systems thinking in its view of the family equally an emotional unit. When systems thinking—which evaluates the parts of a system in relation to the whole—is practical to families, it suggests behavior is both ofttimes informed by and inseparable from the operation of one'due south family unit of origin.

Families experiencing conflict inside the unit of measurement and seeking professional assistance to address it may find family systems therapy a helpful approach.

  • The Evolution of Family unit Systems Therapy
  • Family Systems Therapy Approaches
  • Family unit Systems Therapy and the Genogram
  • Eight Interlocking Concepts ofFamily unit Systems Theory
  • How Tin can Family Systems Therapy Assist?
  • Limitations and Concerns

The Development of Family Systems Therapy

Family systems therapy is based on Murray Bowen's family 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 treatment processes as an culling to conventional diagnostic frameworks and pathological language. Bowen believed all therapists had experienced challenges within their family unit of origin and that an awareness of this could assistance therapists normalize human being beliefs for people in handling.

Bowen introduced family systems theory in the late 1960s afterwards years of research into the family patterns of people with schizophrenia who were receiving handling and the patterns of his own family of origin.

Traditional individual therapy frequently addresses the individual's inner psyche in order to generate modify in relationships and other aspects of life. Bowen's theory suggests it is beneficial to address the structure and behavior of the broader human relationship system, which he believed to play a part in the formation of character. According to Bowen, changes in behavior of one family unit member are likely to have an influence on the way the family functions over time.

Family unit Systems Therapy Approaches

Many forms of family therapy are based on family unit systems theory. Family systems approaches generally 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 inside the therapy session in lodge to evaluate the structure of the family. Employing activities such every bit office play in session, therapists besides examine subsystems within the family unit structure, such as parental or sibling subsystems.
  • Strategic family therapy, developed past Jay Haley, Milton Erickson, and Cloe Madanes, among others, examines family processes and functions, such equally advice or trouble-solving patterns, past evaluating family beliefs 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 society to create the desired modify. Strategic family unit therapists believe alter can occur apace, without intensive analysis of the source of the trouble.
  • Intergenerational family therapy acknowledges generational influences on family unit and individual beliefs. Identifying multigenerational behavioral patterns, such every bit direction of anxiety, tin can help people see how their current problems may exist rooted in previous generations. Murray Bowen designed this approach to family therapy, using information technology in handling for individuals and couples equally well every bit families. Bowen employed techniques such every bit normalizing a family's challenges by discussing similar scenarios in other families, describing the reactions of individual family unit members instead of acting them out, and encouraging family members to answer with "I" statements rather than accusatory statements.

Family Systems Therapy and the Genogram

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

Bowen used genograms for both cess and treatment. Get-go, he would interview each member of the family in order to create a detailed family history going back at least iii generations. Bowen then used this information to aid highlight important data also as whatsoever behavioral or mental wellness concerns repeating beyond generations. He initially believed it took three generations for symptoms of schizophrenia to manifest inside the family, though he later revised this estimate to ten generations.

Eight Interlocking Concepts of Family Systems Theory

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

These theoretical constructions include, in no item lodge:

  1. Differentiation of self, the core concept of Bowen's approach, refers to the fashion in which a person is able to separate thoughts and feelings, respond to anxiety, 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 nonetheless maintaining emotional contact with the group. A person with a low level of differentiation may feel emotional fusion, feeling what the group feels, due to insufficient interpersonal boundaries between members of the family. Highly differentiated people may exist more likely to attain contentment through their own efforts, while those with a less-adult 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 man human relationship systems (larger relationship systems can be perceived every bit a network of interlocking triangles). A two-person dyad may exist for a fourth dimension but may get unstable as anxiety is introduced. A three-person system, however, may provide more than resources toward managing and reducing overall anxiety inside the grouping. Despite the potential for increased stability, many triangles institute their own rules and be with ii sides in harmony and 1 side in disharmonize—a situation which may lead to difficulty. It is common for children to become triangulated inside their parents' human relationship.
  3. The family project process, or the transmission of a parent'south anxiety, human relationship difficulties, and emotional concerns to the child within the emotional triangle, may contribute to the development of emotional bug and other concerns in the child. The parent(due south) may first focus anxiety or worry onto the child and, when the kid reacts to this by experiencing worry or anxiety in turn, may either effort to "ready" these concerns or seek professional help. All the same, this may oft have further negative impact as the child begins to be further affected past the business and may become dependent on the parent to "fix" it. What typically leads to the most improvement in the kid is management, on the part of the parent(south), of their own concerns.
  4. The multigenerational transmission process, according to Bowen, depicts the way that individuals seek out partners with a similar level of differentiation, potentially leading sure behaviors and conditions to be passed on through generations. A couple where each partner has a low level of differentiation may have children who have fifty-fifty lower levels of differentiation. These children may eventually have children with even lower levels of differentiation. When individuals increase their levels of differentiation, co-ordinate to Bowen, they may be able to break this design, reach relief from their symptoms of low differentiation, and prevent symptoms from returning or occurring in other family unit members.
  5. An emotional cutoff describes a situation where a person decides to best manage emotional difficulties or other concerns within the family system past emotionally distancing themselves from other members of the family. Cut emotional connections may serve as an effort to reduce tension and stress in the relationship and handle unresolved interpersonal issues, but the end event is oft an increase in anxiety and tension, although the relationship may exist 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 trend of the oldest, middle, and youngest children to assume specific roles within the family due to differences in expectation, parental discipline, and other factors. For example, older children may be expected to act as miniature adults within the family setting. These roles may be influenced by the sibling position of parents and relatives.
  7. The societal emotional process illustrates how principles affecting the emotional organisation of the family likewise affect the emotional system of society. Individuals in society may feel greater anxiety 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 resources, the wellness of the economic system, then on can influence these regressive periods.
  8. The nuclear family unit emotional process reflects Bowen's belief that the nuclear family tends to experience bug in 4 main areas: intimate partner conflict, problematic behaviors or concerns in ane partner, emotional distance, and impaired functionality in children. Anxiety may atomic number 82 to fights, arguments, criticism, nether- or over-functioning of responsibilities, and/or distancing beliefs. Though a person's item belief organisation and attitude toward relationships may impact the development of issues according to relationship patterns, Bowen held them to be primarily a upshot 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 full general, information technology may exist considered an constructive approach for those concerns that appear to relate to or manifest within the family unit of origin. Family systems therapy has been shown to be effective with families, couples, and individuals.

This approach may be helpful in addressing conditions such as schizophrenia, booze and substance dependency, bipolar, anxiety, personality bug, depression, and eating and nutrient issues.

Limitations and Concerns

Though Bowenian family systems therapy is a popular fashion of treatment that both therapists and people in treatment take attested to the effectiveness of the approach, at present there is a limited base of empirical evidence backing the approach. Though the show base is growing, more data—peculiarly from objective sources—may aid ostend its efficacy.

A 2nd 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 whatsoever harmful behaviors individuals in therapy may be exposing themselves or other people to.

References:

  1. Baege, One thousand. (2005). Bowen family systems theory. Retrieved from http://www.vermontcenterforfamilystudies.org/bowen_family_systems_theory
  2. Dark-brown, J. (2008). Is Bowen theory all the same 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-yet-relevant-in-the-Family-Therapy-field.docx.pdf
  3. Brown, J. (2012). Growing yourself up: How to bring your best to all of life's relationships (3-5). Wollombi, NSW: Exisle Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.thefsi.com.au/united states/bowen-theory
  4. Family unit Solutions Institute. (2015.) Strategic & Systemic. Family Solutions Plant 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, K. E. (2000). One family'south story: A primer on Bowen theory. Retrieved from https://www.thebowencenter.org/theory/viii-concepts
  7. Winek, J.Fifty. (2010). Systemic family therapy: From theory to practice. London: SAGE Publications, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/29841_Chapter5.pdf