Family Therapy

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family members can influence each other’s thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions. The connectedness of the members of a family provides for each person to unknowingly solicit approval, support and attention from the other members (Brown, 1999). Similarly, when one person in the family experiences a change, it has a ripple effect as it carries out to the other family members. All families share some amount of interdependence. Anxiety and tension can cause more than one member to show stress due to the emotional connectedness of the members. The interaction is reciprocal. Bowenian therapy consists of eight interlocking concepts. These concepts include: Differentiation of Self; Triangles; Nuclear Family Emotional Process; Family Projection Process; Cutoff; Multigenerational Transmission Process; Sibling Position; and Societal Emotional Process (Rabstejnek, 2012).

Differentiation of Self

In family systems theory, dysfunction occurs when members are undifferentiated from one another (Becvar, 2009). Differentiation of self is at the foundation of Bowen’s theory. It is based on the psychological separation of the emotion and the intellect, and the ability to become independent from others (Kerr & Bowen, 1988). Differentiation of self is having the ability to independently think through an issue without reacting emotionally to pressures from others. People who are differentiated have the ability to choose between guiding themselves with their thoughts or their feelings. They are able to have strong emotions but also practice self-restraint (Brown, 1999).

Shakira is an example of someone who shows strong emotions but also maintains a very strong level of self-restraint. She feels she needs to be strong for her family and will not allow them to see her vulnerable, emotional side. I suspect her self-restraint is also a form of control over her life. Over the past two years, Shakira has endured several traumatic events and major changes in her life which were out of her control. What Shakira can control are her emotions and how she approaches things. Shakira’s differentiation of self allows her to be strong and functional for both herself and family. This also supports her over achieving tendencies in school and in baseball.

Those who are differentiated think things through, make decisions on their beliefs, and respond accordingly. Those who are undifferentiated, on the other hand, react emotionally and impetuously. Unable to maintain their own autonomy, they become fused with others in their family. Their emotional patterns are in sync with other members, and they have a difficult time separating what they feel from the emotions of the family unit (Kerr & Bowen, 1988). Jennifer and Mateo are examples of family members who are undifferentiated. Both Jennifer and Mateo react emotionally and impetuously towards their family’s problems, especially Mateo. Jennifer is unable to cope with daily activities and Mateo cannot control his own emotions or anger. In addition, they both also take on the emotions of the family unit as they adjust to life without Bill and Jane and George’s stroke.

Triangulation

Intimate relationships often include bouts of anxiety. In families, as the anxiety increases between two people, they make seek to bring in a third person to attempt to gain stability. This process is known as triangulation. With the involvement of the third person, the anxiety is spread across more people and appears to lighten. While the tension may appear to decrease, the possibility of increasing the original problem persists. With three players now involved, the original dyad fails to solve the problem which caused the anxiety to begin with (Bevcar, 2009). Triangles are the basis of Bowen’s multigenerational theory. If anxiety and reactivity can be properly managed, triangles can be positive (Rabstejnek, 2012). One of the triangles that has been created in the Lopez family is between Shakira and her grandparents. Unlike her older brother, Shakira does not lash out and argue with her grandparents. She does not have any problems at school and does not cause her grandparents any anxiety. Her grandparents have formed a triangle with her because they can rely on her to help out at home and she has become a support system for them. Her overcompensation serves to alieve their anxiety. On the other hand, Mateo has formed a triangle with his grandparents where all the attention is focused on him, rather than on each other. In this way the grandparents are able to avoid dealing with George’s stroke and their own issues with their daughter’s death.

Nuclear Family Emotional Process

Excessive emotional reactivity and fusion are known as Nuclear Family Emotional Processes. These can be triggered by a lack of differentiation and can lead to an emotional cutoff. When met with conflict, family members may argue, fight, criticize and blame each other. One person assumes a dominant role and another assumes a subordinate role, leaving the dominant person to assume all of the responsibility and the other person to become lost (Butler,2007). This is evident in the relationship between Mateo and Shakria. Mateo exhibits anger, fights, criticizes, and puts blame on everyone around him. Although Mateo maintains the focus of the family, he is lost and withdrawn from the other members of his family, taking on the subordinate role. Shakira takes on the dominant role, but instead assumes all of the responsibility for herself and the rest of her family.

Family Projection Process

When a family passes on their differentiation to their children, it is known as the Family Projection Process. The parents of a nuclear family might both be undifferentiated, and they focus their anxiety on their child. In the Bowen Family Systems Theory, the parents would receive therapy to improve their differentiation, and once their anxiety is removed, the child improves. The Lopez family exhibits the family projection process through their focus on Mateo. Jennifer still has unresolved anger and conflict with her deceased daughter, which in turn transfers to Mateo. Jennifer is constantly at odds with Mateo and his actions cause her much frustration, just like in her relationship with Jane.

Emotional Cutoff

Emotional cutoff happens when family members stop emotionally interacting with one another. (Kim-Appel & Appel, 2015). Emotional cutoffs can happen for different reasons, but is generally a result of a high degree of fusion. Mateo has emotionally cut himself off from his family. He prefers to spend time with his friends or in his room alone instead of interacting with family