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CHAPTER 8 Transgenerational Models Family Systems Theory…
CHAPTER 8
Transgenerational Models
Family Systems Theory (Bowen)
160. Where do you fit, in relationship to your family, on Bowen’s Differentiation of Self scale? Remember that people at the low end are emotionally fused to the family and thus are dominated by the feelings of those around them. At the other extreme of the scale, the high end, people are able to separate thinking from feeling and thus retain autonomy under stress.
Place yourself on the scale below and explain your answer.
_______________________________________________________________ 1
25 50 75 100 Fusion Differentiation of Self
161. What scores on Bowen’s scale would you assign:
a. your mother?
b. your father?
c. your oldest sibling?
d. your youngest sibling?
Explain your reasons.
162. Would you say that you and your siblings exhibit comparable degrees of individuality? Is one more independent that the other? How does the family as a whole interact with the more independent and more enmeshed member(s)? Explain.
163. How would you rate the degree of anxiety that generally characterizes your family? What happens to the anxiety level in your family when a member seeks to individuate?
164. During one weekly session a husband and wife considering divorce relentlessly express rage towards each other. The therapist invites the couple to bring their sixteen-year-old son to the next session. They therapist asks the young man, “What do you think of your parents getting a divorce?” The boy sadly answers, “Finally, someone has asked me my opinion.” The parents realize that they have been so locked in their shared rage that they have neglected their son and not realized the impact of their fighting on him. What is this intervention by the therapist called? How does it work? In the following session, with the young man again present, all three rage at each other with no one hearing what the others are saying. What do you think has happened within the family since last week? Explain.
165. Following the example above (question number 164), the family’s college-age daughter comes to the next session. The therapist notices that the siblings seem to want you to tell the parents to get over their problems and to stay together. On hearing this, the parents suddenly join together and attack the children by angrily saying to the therapist: “Whether we stay together or not can’t be decided by the children, right?” What has happened to the family system with the addition of the daughter? Has anxiety been moderated by the presence of a new person? Explain the new development.
166. Bowenians contend that any of three possible symptomatic behavior patterns may appear as a result of intense fusion between the parents: physical or emotional dysfunction in a spouse; chronic, unresolved marital conflict; psychological impairment in a child. Did any of these patterns occur in your family? Describe the circumstances.
167. Bowen believed that parents functioning at a low level of differentiation may transmit their immaturity to their most vulnerable, fusion-prone child. Did this or a similar family projection process occur in your family? Which child was most susceptible to such fusion? Explain.
168. Emotional cutoff in a family occurs when one member distances himself or herself from the others in order to break emotional ties. Distancing may take the form of a geographic move, unwillingness to attend family get-togethers, stopping talking to one or more relatives, etc. Has any of this occurred in your family? How did the emotional cutoff affect the problem?
169. Bowen worked with the family in creating a family history (genogram) while Whitaker invited grandparents to join parents and children in a family session. Which would work better for your family? Why?
170. Make a genogram of your family, covering at least three generations. What have you learned about relationships within your family from the genogram?
171. Identify as best you can any unresolved attachment issues with respect to your family. If you are aware of any, do you see how they might affect the way you interact with your choice of boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse or partner? Describe and explain.
172. What is your sibling position in your family of origin? How does it match the sibling position of a significant person in your life (spouse, roommate, lover)?
173. Bowen advocated keeping down the emotional intensity in his work with families, so that the members might more easily think through what was causing their difficulties. Is there a member of your family who plays a similar role? Describe.
Contextual Therapy (Borszormenyi-Nagy)
174. What resources can you find from the past history of your family that sustain or enrich your life today?
175. In your family ledger, what are some of the “unpaid debts” or restitutions that need to be made? If mother worked to put father through school, has she been repaid? Was there an imbalance in childcare responsibilities? Was that debt erased? If not, what are the residuals?
176. Family legacies dictate debts and entitlements. What legacies did you inherit? Were you expected to be an athlete, a musician, a scholar, a failure, beautiful, etc.? How have you carried those legacies into your current relationships?
177. To function effectively, family members must be held accountable for their dealings with one another. How does your family balance entitlement and indebtedness?
178. Has there been a death in your family where you believe grief was never sufficiently expressed? How did that affect family functioning?
