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Bowen's focus was on patterns that develop in families in order to defuse anxiety.
A key generator of anxiety in families is the perception of either too much closeness or too great a distance in a relationship.
The degree of anxiety in any one family will be determined by the current levels of external stress and the sensitivities to particular themes that have been transmitted down the generations.
If family members do not have the capacity to think through their responses to relationship dilemmas, but rather react anxiously to perceived emotional demands, a state of chronic anxiety or reactivity may be set in place.
The main goal of Bowenian therapy is to reduce chronic anxiety by
- facilitating awareness of how the emotional system functions; and
- increasing levels of differentiation, where the focus is on making changes for the self rather than on trying to change others.
Eight interlocking concepts make up Bowen's theory. This paper will give an overview of seven of these. The eighth attempts to link his theory to the evolution of society, and has little relevance to the practice of his therapy. [However, Wylie (1991) points out in her biographical piece following Bowen's death that this interest in evolutionary process distinguishes Bowen from other family therapy pioneers. Bowen viewed himself as a scientist, with the lofty aim of developing a theory that accounted for the entire range of human behaviour and its origins.]
The Theory
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