The Nuclear Family Emotional System / Part One
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Bowen Theory
Robert M. Gilbert, the founder of the Center for the Study of Human Systems, provides a helpful introduction to family systems in her book, The Eight Concepts of Bowen Theory. In a post with practically the same title as Dr. Gilbert’s book, I listed the eight concepts as follows:
- Nuclear Family Emotional System
- The Differentiation of Self Scale
- Triangles
- Emotional Cutoff
- Family Projection Process
- Multigenerational Transmission Process
- Sibling Position
- Societal Emotional Process
The first of these concepts, the nuclear family emotional system, offers a unique perspective on the family and the individuals who make up the family. Dr. Gilbert states in her book that, “in Bowen family systems theory, the nuclear family, rather than the individual is the emotional unit” (p. 5). What this means is that…
- Whatever affects one member of a family affects each one in the system. This is another way of saying that, when anxiety arises in one or more family members, it moves easily from person to person in the group.
- Family members trade “self” for the sake of family harmony and, thereby, create a “fusion” of selves in the family.
Anxiety
Bowen Family Systems Theory observes that anxiety spreads quickly from one person to another in a family (or other group).
Dr. Gilbert uses the example of a herd of cattle to explain this idea. One cow gets too close to an electric fence, sustains a shock, vocalizes, and jumps or runs. Gilbert asks, “How long does it take for the other cows in the pasture to ‘catch’ the anxiety?” No time at all. It happens almost immediately. The cattle demonstrate, by the movement of anxiety through the herd, that they are an emotional system.
According to Gilbert, there are two types of anxiety: acute and chronic. Acute anxiety occurs in the family on a daily basis. It arises in reaction to certain stressful incidents: a fender bender, a swing in the stock market, a conflict at the office, etc.
We carry chronic anxiety around with us; it is the anxiety that we acquire from our original family or, perhaps, from the circuiting of anxiety in our present family. This type of anxiety remains in the background, so to speak, and may express itself in symptoms such as weight gain, infection, ulcers, and, possibly, aging effects on the brain.
Anxiety, says Gilbert, is “additive.” If, in addition to the chronic anxiety we carry around all the time, something should happen to trigger acute anxiety (say, a business reversal), our anxiety will escalate.
Events or situations that trigger anxiety may be negative, but even positive changes, such as marriage or a promotion at work, can cause us to react physiologically with what is called the “stress response.”
Have you noticed how anxiety spreads in your family or some other group of which you are a part (a team, an office staff, a class, a church, or whatever)?
We will continue with the nuclear family emotional system in the next post. This concept is the first of eight in Bowen Family Systems Theory, and it is the one on which the other seven concepts are built.
Photo credit: The Dance of Joy by Garry Schlatter
December 23, 2010 at 11:25 am
[…] Family Emotional System / Part One / Part […]
December 23, 2010 at 11:27 am
[…] Nuclear Family Emotional System […]
March 20, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Very great post, I certainly like your website, keep on it!
March 20, 2013 at 1:19 pm
That was a interesting idea to bring up. Thanks for the information.
March 25, 2013 at 8:12 pm
I am glad that you found the information interesting. Thanks for letting me know.