Dr. Murray Bowen Family Systems Therapy Contribution Essay

Dr. Murray Bowen family systems therapy contribution family therapy. Explain the Bowenian

Dr. Murray Bowen's place in family systems therapy is secure and is one of the most prominent of theorists within this field. He has helped to pioneer a number of important concepts within this discipline, which have actually served to revolutionize the field itself and its very conception of not only human nature, but of human interactivity at the family level. In fact, Bowen's work in family systems therapy has transcended this field alone, and has been applied to others aspects of erudition such as crisis situations and how people respond to them -- as denoted by his work with the Environmental Protection Agency (Baege, 2005). In contemporary times, Bowen's theory (alternately referred to as the Bowenian model) serves as the basis for family systems therapy.

Throughout the course of his Bowen's professional career he uncovered numerous theoretical innovations that have helped to shed light on what is actually the science of human nature. The author chose to direct most of his efforts towards the family as one of the most viable forms and units of human nature. Of his many contributions to family systems therapy, the notion that the family is largely interdependent upon one another from an emotional and social viewpoint remains one of the most notable. Moreover, the implications of such a viewpoint created ripple effects throughout this field, as Bowen was one of the first people to acknowledge the fact that when there is a degree of dysfunctional behavior within a family, it naturally extends itself to affect (in a variety of ways) other individuals within that family. Bowen innovated this theoretical advancement while working on schizophrenic individuals and their effects on their families (Baege, 2005). This was an extremely important discovery because it shifted the symptoms of whatever form of dysfunctional affliction that was affecting a family member outside of just that member and into the lives, emotions and thoughts of the rest of the family.

This advancement in the field was responsible for the tendency of theorists and practitioners to regard the family as a unit, and the issues affecting one member (even in relatively healthy or normal situations) as affecting all of them. However, there was a degree of ambitiousness in Bowen's theoretical work which is also one of his primary contributions to family therapy systems. Bowen's model consists of eight interlocking concepts, and the final of these pertains to societal emotional process. Although there are elements of this tenet that apply Bowen's theory outside of the family and to society at large, this particular concept actually examines society from an evolutionary perspective. The facet of evolution is a concept that was not well studied prior to Bowen's work on the subject. However, it is noteworthy that again, this eighth interlocking concept stems directly from the principle idea that the family is one of the basic units of which to examine and codify human behavior and interaction. Yet Bowen should be credited for introducing an evolutionary aspect to family systems therapy.

In deconstructing the Bowenian model of family therapy, it is pivotal to realize the importance that Bowen ascribed to systems thinking and to emotional processes. Systems thinking, of course, views the world and its processes as an interaction between a variety of systems. One of the core principles of Bowenian theory is that the ties that bind family members are largely emotional in nature, and there is a degree of interdependence among family members intrinsically related to their emotional involvement. This connection is still existent in situations in which there is literal or even emotional distance among family members, which invariably affects them in one way or another. The subsequent quotation readily illustrates this notion.

Family members…profoundly affect each other's thoughts, feelings, and actions……