Bowen theory, a natural systems theory of the family, provides a conceptual framework for recognizing the impact of relationships

between family members, within organizations and in society on human biology and behavior. Bowen theory can help identify factors that impact health and reproduction and guide the application of knowledge in ways that are specific to the family and to the relationship of influence. To learn more about utilizing the Bowen theory as a resource for concerns about health and reproduction in their own lives and families as well as for professionals in medicine, nursing, mental health, education, and ministry, see the Calendar of Events for upcoming conferences. The first educational programs in Bowen theory were developed by Murray Bowen himself, as he came to see human behavior as a part of evolution, governed by natural forces evident in the rest of life. Those of us who study Bowen theory, ourselves and our families, or aspects of human nature that are addressed in our work are indebted to research and teaching at Georgetown Family Center established by Dr. Bowen in Washington, D. C.

Bowen Theory
Murray Bowen (1913-1990) developed a new theory of human functioning based upon what was considered scientific in the work of Freud upon studies in evolution and the natural sciences and upon his own research. First called "family systems theory", Bowen theory is a natural systems theory distinct from general systems theory, from the individual theories of psychiatry, medicine and psychology, and from group theories in sociology and sociobiology. During his study of psychiatry at The Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas from 1946-1954, Bowen read extensively in biology and the study of evolution. His changing view of human functioning led to development o a research project at the National Institute of Mental Health in which families with a schizophrenic member were studied over a five-year period. The nuclear family process came alive. From 1954 to 1959, Dr. Bowen began to define concepts about the family as an emotional system that governs the biology and behavior of individuals. The first chapters in Family Therapy in Clinical Practice describe early work in defining the difference between conventional theory and this new view of the human as part of a family emotional system. By the time Bowen came to Georgetown University in 1959, the basic concepts of theory were organized into eight interconnected variables: the emotional system with its variation in the counterbalance between togetherness and individuality; levels of differentiation of self; mechanisms of reactivity in the nuclear family; triangles; multigenerational transmission process; sibling position; anxiety, chronic and acute; and emotional cut off. no one concept could be explained by another concept. No one concept could be eliminated or isolated from the theory. Clinical families, Bowen's own family system, and all of human society were studied within the framework of theory. Bowen theory is not a theory about pathology, but about the interaction of variables that produce variation in human functioning. Instead of reducing the explanation of physical illness, for example, to one cause and the effect, natural systems theory outlines related variables to predict individual variation in health. Any symptoms, be they physical, psychiatric, behavioral, social or societal, are studied within the same broad theoretical framework. Both biology and behavior are considered under the influence of the same variables. Symptoms and stability are the outcome of the same variables. It became obvious early that theoretical differences afforded new avenues and approaches in psychotherapy, medicine, and health care. The theoretical foundation provides the direction for therapy rather than diagnostic categories, techniques, or emotional reactions of the therapist. Bowen theory does not focus on the number of family members in the room but upon the thinking of the therapist. Decisions about who to see are based upon assessment of levels of differentiation of self, and upon determining strengths and leadership within the family. In this theory, one therapist best consults to the most motivated and responsible family member or to a variety of family members rather than referring family members to different mental health professionals, an individual therapist, a couple's counselor, a child psychologist, etc.

References
Murray Bowen, Family Therapy in Clinical Practice, 1978. Michael Kerr, Family Evaluation, 1988. Daniel Papero, Bowen Family Systems Theory, 1990. Roberta Gilbert, Extraordinary Relationships, 1993. Family Systems, the Journal of Natural Systems Thinking in Psychiatry, Georgetown Family Center 4400 MacArthur Blvd. NW, Suite 103, Washington, D. C. 20007

FAMILY WORK
Exploring your family diagram is the first step in the family systems approach to therapy. Family Systems Theory was introduced to the world by Dr. Murry Bowen in the 1950's. Seen by family therapists as radical at the time, it is now considered to be one of the best ways to help and heal family and personal troubles. If you're a fan of John Bradshaw, you've been exposed to Family Systems Theory, for much of his teaching comes from this approach. Dr. Bowen was the first to recognize that a family, or any group for that matter, was greater than the sum of its parts. He saw that families generate an entire field of energy that impacts on every member in it. Patterns of abuse in families are often many generations old, and it is this family energy field that contributes to the problem. If you were abused in your family, you can be sure that you are not the only one; you probably have uncles, cousins, grandparents, even great-great-great grandparents who were also abused. The energy surrounding any family has stability and reduction of tension as its primary goal. Each member of the family has his or her role to play, and there are very powerful pressures on each individual to maintain that role in order to preserve the stability of the family unit. Often when we feel unexplainable anxiety in regards to making a step forward it is because our proposed growth will take us out of the roles assigned to us within our families. The freaky thing is, these roles remain fairly well carved in stone even if we have little or no contact with our families. For example, it's been noted that, in general, the first child will acquire the values and goals of the parents, the second child will acquire the griefs of the parents, the third child will

acquire the unresolved conflicts between the parents, and the fourth child will acquire the unresolved conflicts of the entire family system; the fifth child will behave as a first child, sixth as a second, and so on. The other way families reduce tension and remain stable is to pass uncomfortable energy down the line. So, for example, if your dad was incested by his father when he was three, he probably blocked the experience out of his conscious mind. However, the unresolved feelings remain in his psyche, stewing and festering. These feelings may emerge as depression, rage, drug or alcohol abuse, etc. Unless he makes an attempt to heal these issues within himself, his children stand a good chance of "inheriting" them from him. Here's a glaring example: a woman in one of my groups was sexually abused by her uncle when she was nine years old. When she finally talked to her mother about it thirty years later, her mother told her that she, too, was sexually abused by her uncle when she was nine! So, one of the best ways to understand these family dynamics is to begin to explore your own family tree. The first step is to make a chart of the system. Begin with yourself and your brothers and sisters; then your folks and their brothers and sisters; then their parents, etc. Find out when they were born, when they got married, how many children they had, what diseases they suffered from, when they died and what they died from. You'll find that as you reach further back into history you'll have to start talking to aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents to get the information you need to fill in the blanks. It may be hard to believe, but as you make contact (face to face, by phone or letter) with the people in your family you rarely talk to, things will begin to change in your own life and in your relationship with your parents. The first goal here is to look for patterns of behavior. Chances are, if you explore thoroughly enough, you'll find a relative who suffered from the same problem(s) that are troubling you. As you continue to explore your family tree you'll see that, perhaps, every woman on your mother's side of the family married before eighteen; or, on your father's side, every other generation produced a suicide of the youngest child. These kinds of patterns can be very enlightening when you find them, and often they are comforting. For example, if you've been trying to quit drinking and can't seem to do so, and then you see that every first child in your family has had a drinking problem (and you're a first child) it can help in understanding why you can't seem to get this problem to budge out of your life. The second thing to look for is cut-offs. Did your father come over from Europe in the 1920s and have no contact with anyone in the old country ever again? Did your mother feud with her sister thirty years ago and refuse to speak to her again? These kinds of situations are gold mines for the brave adventuress seeking to blow up the unspoken rules (and roles) in her family. Making contact with cut-off parts of the family produces energy-level earthquakes in the family system (and within the adventuress also). The assigned roles in every family can exist only if the family structure remains in stasis. Calling up your long-lost auntie (even if no one in your immediate family knows you're doing it) disrupts the stasis of the system. The rigid role structures loosen or dissolve and you're free to create something new for yourself both within your own life and in relation to your family. Two of the best books using the family systems approach are written for women. They are The Dance of Anger (Harper & Row, 1985) and The Dance of Intimacy by Harriet Goldhor Lerner, Ph.D (Harper & Row, 1989). Dr. Lerner presents the material so clearly and completely that I recommend them highly for all survivors. She provides many case examples and writes in a style that is very easy to understand. She also includes a section demonstrating how to diagram your family tree. Exploring your family from a systems perspective involves extending your connections to them beyond what is usual for you. It often means communicating with family members that have been cut-off from your parents for various reasons. As you extend your connections to your family beyond what was considered proper or acceptable to your folks, it extends your own view of yourself. Your personal role in a rigid family structure can become more fluid and dynamic as you get to know other members of the family tree. Perhaps in your immediate family you are seemingly stuck in the role of the "dumb one." In connecting to your greater family, you may find that you can be seen (and become) something closer to your true self. CAVEAT: Doing the work to create an accurate family diagram is not everyone's cup of tea. It seems scary to contemplate contacting people in the family you don't know, and sometimes even scarier to interview the ones you do! Many survivors will go to great lengths to keep their families out of their healing process. Even if they were abused by a family member--and, thus, it stands to reason that the dynamics of the family must be explored in order to heal--there is wishful thinking on the part of such survivors that they can somehow get away with ignoring this important part of their history. In any event, don't force anyone to do this if they're clearly resistant. With a little adaptation, the following exercises can be utilized even without a complete diagram of your participant's family systems.

Prayer for the Family

If you want to make this exercise truly an event, you may want to read Dr. Kenneth McCall's book Healing the Family Tree (Sheldon Press, 1982) beforehand. Dr. McCall has written about the extraordinary healings he has witnessed when praying over a family diagram. He discusses several Christian rituals, complete with passages from the Catholic Bible, that can be used instead of this more generic metaphysical approach.

Have everyone in the group bring in their family diagram. Place them on the group's altar, or create a sacred circle in the middle of the room and place them there. Have everyone close their eyes and move into meditative awareness. Ask everyone to call in their favorite beings they use for support. I personally have found that the Christ energies work very well with this type of healing.

Ask that the negative energies, bonds, entities and issues represented in each family diagram be released and transmuted into the universe for the good of all concerned. Ask each participant to silently request that any particular problems she is aware of in her family be healed, or any particular person needing healing receive it. Visualize white light coming down from the Heavens onto the diagrams. Imagine the light burning away negativity and bringing healing and protective energies to each family. Know that the healing energy you have sent to the family diagram will be transmitted to everyone in it. Thank the beings you have called in to help. When you are ready, open your eyes.

Family in the Cauldron

Not all survivors are interested in sending healing energy to their family. For many, the anger and resentment they feel about their abuse prevents them from considering the above approach. Also, since survivors were often the designated caretakers and healers in their family, doing one more thing to heal the family's problems just seems like too much to ask. The following exercise works very well to help cleanse the survivor of negative family energy, and may seem more desirable than praying for the family.

Bring out a cauldron or bowl that can hold burning paper. Have everyone write down the names of family members who hurt them, or whom they feel they have negative ties to on small pieces of paper. Have one participant put her pieces of paper in the cauldron, then set them on fire. As the papers burn, tell the woman to imagine the negative energies, issues and improper bonds going up to the universe with the rising smoke. When the paper is burnt, empty the cauldron. Ashes should be given back to the participant to be disposed of as she wishes. In general, they should be thrown outdoors on the ground, put in plants, etc., not thrown in the garbage. Begin again with the next participant. You might have a woman in your group who's family is so messed up she wants to put her whole diagram into the cauldron. This is perfectly acceptable. Once everyone is finished, affirm that the negative energies of the family memberslisted and burned are now as ephemeral as the smoke.

In this section, I will outline some of the basic principles of family systems theory that are foundational to the development and application of genograms. Within its clinical and therapeutic applications, the genogram and family systems theory in general are applied in different ways depending on the practitioner. It is important to note that for the purposes of this web site, many specifics will be glossed over. The idea is to provide a general framework to help individuals who are not specially trained succeed in using this tool in a meaningful or insightful way. I want you to be able to begin using genograms to discover or assess patterns in your family and better understand how your family works. For more

detailed discussions of family systems theory and genograms, refer to the "Links & Readings" section of this site. One of the best descriptions that I have read of the basic principles of family systems outlines the following four essentials: 1. Families are the primary influence in our lives. 2. History tends to repeat itself. 3. Families move through time on a horizontal as well as a vertical continuum. 4. Each individual member must maintain both separateness from and connectedness to the family. Families are the primary influence in our lives: This principle acknowledges a basic truth that has been observed and discussed in such fields as Psychology, Cultural Anthropology, and Sociology. Human beings are shaped and formed by the family they are raised within. Everything from language to mannerisms is effected by the models we are exposed to. This fact is evidenced by the very different ways that particular families interact. One family may have a largely non-verbal and nonconfrontational way of interacting. Meanwhile, their neighbors may have a very verbal and confrontational way of interacting. When individuals from these two different families meet, it is likely that misunderstandings or difficulties might arise within the context of their interactions. In terms of the way in which we are shaped as humans entering into the world, perhaps the old adage, "You are what you eat." should be changed to "You are who you meet." While these influences do not dictate exactly what we will be in a strict sense, they do supply us with most of the material that we will have to work with. History tends to repeat itself: This statement is one that has been made by historians studying patterns over time and commenting on the habitual character of the human race. This observation of repeating patterns can also be made when one examines family systems. Furthermore, this repetition can be seen in the physical and psychological patterns a family will cycle through. Consider a family illness, such as heart disease, that shows up as a medical condition experienced by multiple family members through several generations. The genetic predisposition to particular diseases can be seen as it repeatedly manifests itself in the lives of generation after generation. In addition to genetics, a family system may perpetuate certain lifestyle patterns, such as high stress jobs or poor nutrition, that also influence the repeated occurrence of heart disease. Patterns similar to these can also be seen in the psychological habits of a family system. One can observe the fact that certain families produce generation after generation of doctors or teachers or lawyers. Such patterns are not simply the result of opportunity or good fortune. Rather, they involve the values passed down from one generation to the next and the particular relationships within the family system. For better or worse, history does tend to repeat itself in family systems.

These patterns are by no means irreversible, but in order to seek change in these historical patterns, family members must first be aware of them. Families move through time on a horizontal as well as a vertical continuum: Any one moment in time is like a picture of a family and does not include the past or future of the family system. Families change as they move through time. New members are born or added to the family and other members leave or die. These life changes or cycles are a part of the natural progression of families over time. In addition, these cycles involve not only family relationships on a horizontal plane, such as siblings, but also family relationships on a vertical plane, such as parent-child or grandparent-child relationships. As a family moves through various life cycles, such as marriage, childrearing, and retirement, demands for change or adjustment will be placed on the family system. Certain tasks will be established as important for the family to accomplish as members relate to one another in a particular life cycle. If they are unable to adjust to the demands of the new life cycle, difficulties will emerge and symptoms of dysfunctionality will arise. Additionally, major disruptions, such as illness, death, and divorce, add to the stress a family experiences and increases their vulnerability to unsuccessful adaptation to the new life cycle. In distress, we tend to cling to that which is familiar. Unfortunately, this reaction can be the exact opposite of what is needed in a situation where the family's life is cycling or transitioning to something new. Each individual member must maintain both separateness from and connectedness to the family : As a family moves through the various cycles of life, the relationships of each member to others in the family will inevitably change. For example, a child who is at first dependent for all forms of nourishment and protection upon the parents will eventually grow to be an increasingly independent youth until they leave the home establishing their own independence. Clearly, the relationship between this child and the parents must change over time if it is to remain helpful and healthy. At various times, this relationship will demand high levels of connectedness and separateness. While these aspects of the relationship are not mutually exclusive, their appropriateness or helpfulness depends on the present context of the family life cycle. Both separateness and connectedness can be helpful and harmful depending on their context. Triangles: A very important principle in the use of genograms is the fact that triangles between three family members often represent the attempt of two members to maintain either closeness or distance. When tension exists between two family members, a natural recourse is to involve a third person to help stabilize this relationship. In the short-term, this tendency to triangulate is a frequent occurrence and appears to be a part of normal family functioning. However, if this pattern of involving a third party in order to negotiate a relationship becomes a part of the regular family functioning over a longer period of time then it is seen as symptomatic or unhealthy. Such a pattern will cause a family system to

become more rigid in its way of functioning and will cause problems when the family system is required to adapt or transition to a new life cycle. Achieving change in the family system: Change is very difficult to achieve within a family system. The patterns that a family uses to function are often passed from generation to generation. The process of changing these habits involves both awareness and intentionality. The first step is to become aware of the patterns themselves. Genograms are a useful tool in exploring one's family system and identifying patterned ways of relating. The identification of triangles is especially useful in giving insight into how a family system might be symptomatic or dysfunctional in its patterns of relating. This approach is useful in identifying not only the individual suffering from being triangulated but also the two other family members who are using the third to maintain closeness or distance. The next step is to attempt to intentionally effect change within a family system. Sometimes this involves the elimination of unhealthy triangles. If an individual becomes aware of the way in which they are triangulated between two others, they can refuse to function in the way in which they are being used by the two others. For an example of how this change might be attempted, refer to the article by Rabbi Edwin H. Friedman entitled, "The Birthday Party: An Experiment in Obtaining Change in One's Own Extended Family." This web site is designed to help individuals take the first step of identifying patterns that exist within their family systems through the use of genograms as a tool. You are encouraged to modify the particular symbols used to suit the needs of your own exploration into your family system. As a final quote, I will leave you with a statement by Rabbi Friedman illustrating the importance of awareness of one's own family system:

"The potential for becoming free from the influence of one's family system, however, is much greater in an approach that brings one towards the family than in an approach that takes one away. I think, therefore, in terms of differentiation of self within the system rather than independence of it."