The Eight Concepts of Bowen Family Systems Theory
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Bowen Theory
One of the best tools I have found for understanding behavior in organizations and families is the family systems theory of Dr. Murray Bowen, who taught psychiatry at Georgetown University from 1959 until his death in 1990.
Bowen’s work has been carried on and developed by Michael E. Kerr and Roberta M. Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert’s book, The Eight Concepts of Bowen Theory, while quite brief (only 125 pages), is a helpful introduction to Bowen’s family systems theory.
Dr. Gilbert, who founded the Center for the Study of Human Systems in Virginia, begins her book by stating that “a superior life course, according to this theory, is based on thinking rather than feelings, which come and go” (p. 1). Those, like Gilbert, who subscribe to Bowen theory do not ignore feelings altogether, but they prefer to emphasize thinking based on reality.
The most remarkable innovation in the theory is its focus not on the individual but on the family (or other organization) as an emotional unit. This is not the way we ordinarily look at a situation. Most often, when problems arise, we look for the “cause” that has produced an “effect,” and we move from there to assign blame or fault to this or that individual. Thinking “systems” requires that we look at the interactions among the people in a group along with the emotional process and the facts involved.
The emotional system operates as a unit, and each of us affects all the others in the system (whether the system be a family, an office, a team, a church, or some other organized group). When I think “systems,” I am aware of being a part of something much larger than myself, and, rather than trying to control or blame others, I seek better to manage myself and my contribution to the the situation.
Dr. Gilbert describes what she calls “eight remarkably cohesive concepts” in Bowen theory. These concepts deal with the human family and also with the individual. The eight concepts are:
- Nuclear Family Emotional System / Part One / Part Two
- The Differentiation of Self Scale
- Triangles
- Emotional Cutoff
- Family Projection Process
- Multigenerational Transmission Process
- Sibling Position
- Societal Emotional Process
I would like to devote the next several posts to Dr. Gilbert’s exposition of these eight concepts, beginning in the next post with the Nuclear Family Emotional System.
Photo credit: The Winter Rhododendrons of Summer Colors by Rusty Russ
June 5, 2012 at 12:44 am
You don’t beleive this cappy wordly junk. You are suppose to be a christian and your beleiving in a seculiar theory.
September 2, 2015 at 10:59 am
Explain. I’m a counseling student and am interested in Christian Counseling. I’d like hear your explanation so I don’t go anit-Biblical. We are currently studying this theory in school. I would really appreciate your insights.