The Concept of Family System Theory - Essay Example

Family System Theory An analysis: Murray Bowen (1913 – 1990) first developed the concept of ‘family system theory’, which was based on his studies of evolution, natural sciences and his own specific research. His theory is different from other general systems theory and the various theories of sociology, psychiatry, medicine and psychology. He studied psychiatry at The Menninger Clinic in Kansas but became dissatisfied with the lack of scientific precision in psychoanalysis and soon developed his own theory of human functioning. His theory rested on the premises that the family was an emotional system that monitored the behavior, biological as well as social, of individuals. His theory is based on eight concepts which are inter-related; levels of differentiation of self, nuclear family, counter balance between togetherness and individuality, triangles, multigenerational transmission, sibling position, chronic and acute anxiety and emotional cut off. Not a single concept can be isolated or cut off from the other and not one can be explained by another concept. Bowen’s theory does not reduce physical illness, to give an example, to just one cause and effect but tries to probe the interconnecting variables for the condition. These variables influence both biology as well as behavior and the results of these variables are symptoms and stability. Behavioral, societal, physical or psychological symptoms are all examined within the scope of this theory. Bowen’s theory is not about pathology but more about how these variables interlink and influence human behavior. It provides a guide to understand the impact, relationships between family members, within companies and society, has on human health, reproduction and behavior. To understand the basic concepts of Bowen’s theory, a quick summarization follows: The counterbalance between togetherness and individuality can be termed as ‘fusion’ and this is the integrating factor, which keeps family together and instills a sense of belonging in them. The differentiation of self manifests itself in the way individuals react to high stress factors in the family. According to Bowen, a ‘well-differentiated’ self translates into a balanced self-development. In a nuclear family, fusion and differentiation both combine to create commitment as well as discord regards to emotional relations. Dr. Bowen lays emphasis on the clinical problems generated by the emotional dysfunctions of couples leading to marital discord and its consequential effects on children. When the stress becomes too much to handle for an individual within the family sphere the need to fall back upon a third person is generated to diffuse the tension. This forms a triangle and may spread over generations or to the wider community. The family systems theory of Bowen considers the position of the sibling to play a crucial role in overall development. Older siblings tended to be more protective about younger siblings while younger ones tended to be more playful. Perhaps, one of the most important factors of family system theory is the ‘emotional cut-off’ from family influence to decrease tension which may be useful for some but unsavory to others. Multigenerational transmission, according to Bowen means that as adults, children continue to imitate their parents while choosing mates for themselves or in the way they behave in a marriage and even their health, reproduction, profession etc. are greatly impacted by their own relationships with their parents. Last but not the least, the emotional behavioral pattern of a family impacts the societal emotional process. An analysis of Bowen’s family system theory reveals that his theory views individuals whether showing symptoms or not as highly influenced by family antecedents. The current problems in a family are always rooted in the past behavioral patterns of the family. Previous generations of family history continue to impact behavior patterns in the current generation. In Bowen’s theory, people accept the emotional process in one’s family, which in turn helps them to establish strong relationships with their immediate and extended family. People get less attached to, but not totally distanced from their family and this is the main objective of Bowen’s theory. The family is always seen as a cohesive emotional unit in which members are interdependent and their emotional functioning cannot be comprehended without taking in to account the full family picture We can say that Bowen’s family theory is a radical and unique approach in dealing with individuals and family. His theory is committed to an unshaken belief in scientific integrity, which in itself is unique to the clinical world. To cite an example, even Freud, the ‘father’ of psychoanalysis explained his theory by taking the help of figures from literature, like Oedipus, Electra etc. But, Bowen has come to his theory by observing human and animal behavioral patterns. “Bowen’s preoccupation with discovering a new science of human behavior-an overarching natural systems theory –set him apart from the other path breakers of the field” (Wylie, 1991, 26) The family system theory is a useful way of getting to know the family process and attempting to move away from blaming self or others. (Kerr & Bowen, 1988) Other system theorists generally relied on non-living or mechanical models unlike Bowen who regarded the individual in his/her environment and, “...conceived personal growth and family interaction as part of an indivisible whole…” (Wylie, 1991, 26) The family systems theory of Bowen is truly path breaking and a unique approach to human understanding. Individual development in family system: As we have seen, Bowen’s family system laid emphasis on the crucial role the family played on each individual member of the family and his theory perceived the family as a whole emotional unit rather than having separate units for the individual. This implied that the family functioned in reciprocal relationships with one another and the emotional functioning of one individual could not be isolated from the family. His development could not be completely comprehended if taken “…out of the context of the functioning of the people closely involved with him”(Kerr,1988, 37)Bowen was the pioneer in scientifically studying human behavior along with that of animals and his theory charts the development of the individual biologically also within the family framework. The family system consists of interdependent relationships, which are monitored by various life forces, and these life forces are biologically rooted and are instinctive. Both in human and animal development, these forces are responsible for the manifestation of togetherness and separateness, which in actuality is what individuality, is all about. Biologically, the reaction to stress or real or imagined threat is the feeling of anxiety, which overwhelms people. This attack of anxiety has a profound effect on the family system as “…chronic anxiety often strains or exceeds people’s ability to adapt” (Kerr, 1988, 47) and one individual’s disturbed emotional balance affects the whole family and consequently, individual development is tempered by another family member’s emotional disturbance. Bowen views individuals as extremely reactive to their family origin and as we have seen earlier, believes that current problems in a family are impacted by the previous generational history of the family. His theory therefore propounds an emotional distancing from simply following the individual pathology to accepting the family process. This acceptance makes the individual achieve a more neutral perspective of the emotional family process and anxiety displays of many generations. Bowen’s family system theory feels that all symptoms whether actual physical illness, mental illness or social problems demonstrate “… a failure of adaptation by the system and are exaggerations of normal processes.” (Kerr, 1981, 235) Family system theory believes that an individual is capable of changing his behavior if he realizes that family history and behavioral pattern influences his choices. The keyword here is the ‘family’ and it encompasses the immediate family as well as the extended family of relatives and the community on the whole. Bowen’s family system theory propounds that one must put things in the correct perspective by first understanding that past relationships or family histories tremendously influence present situations. The family is multigenerational, being a single emotional unit comprising of relationships over generations. With realization comes acceptance and the theory strongly contends that individuals can control their responses to the automatic emotional reaction if they understand their own behavioral patterns and accept that these behavioral patterns are linked to previous ones in their multigenerational family. Multiple factors, which are interlinked over generations and time, produce problems or symptoms and accepting these factors would be the first step in the development of an individual’s psychological, sociological behavior. Bowen’s theory realizes that the biological, psychological and sociological factors aid in determining an individual’s behavior. The family system theory contends that the individual’s ability to think can be put to good use in regulating his emotional responses. Bowen’s theory believes that some of the ways in which humans function are similar to the ways of other forms of life and accepts that a few particular factors which regulate behavior may be common to all forms of life. As stated earlier, Bowen based his family system theory on eight basic concepts and one of the concepts was the Nuclear Family Emotional System which stated that since the family functioned as a unit, whenever there was heightened anxiety, there was corresponding reactivity and the need for togetherness. This forced togetherness renders the individual incapable of keeping emotions in check and may result in either being unable to express feelings or controlling volcanic emotional outbursts. This togetherness by force or ‘fusion’ also manifests itself in different ways in the individual. Some may react by constantly seeking approval or always conforming to others’ wishes indicating dependent behavior while others may react by rebelling and deliberately seeking disapproval. Fusion also results in ill-defined boundaries between the individual self and others, which shows itself either in a overwhelmingly strong responsibility for others’ welfare or the casual assumption that someone else is responsible for one’s own welfare. To lessen the impact of anxiety, a pattern of distancing oneself from the family also occurs. This process may take the form of overworking, substance abuse or geographical distance between individuals in a relationship. Marital conflict will result in physical or emotional illness, which is nothing but the inability of one spouse to function in an emotionally stable manner. The development of the individual can also be traced to the differentiation of self as lower levels of differentiation indicates a larger amount of energy given in relationships and higher ratio of differentiation means that one’s energy is directed more towards one’s self-functioning. It means the capability to stick to one’s convictions without imposing them on others. However, Bowen cautioned that differentiation did not imply selfishness or rejection of relationships but rather encouraged emotional and physical bonding without fear of losing one’s own identity. Triangles are built when anxiety and stress sin the family become too uncomfortable and the person more affected will seek to deflect the tension by bringing in a third person, thus allowing for the anxiety to be manipulated around the system. Family projection directly affects the child on whom the attention is focused. In order to defuse the tension, a third party is brought in and very often this may be the child. This particular child absorbs the parental anxiety while other siblings are shielded from anxiety because parents are not paying them much attention. This child will display a wide range of behavior and may turn out to be an over achiever or under achiever or a loner or follower. Thus, the family atmosphere sows seeds of personality development in an individual. The multigenerational transmission affects the individual’s development more than he realizes. Bowen’s family system theory supports the idea that any current emotional, physical or social problem of the individual is the by-product of the emotional patterns of several generations in the family. For example, in the case of schizophrenia in the current generation, it may have all begun in the early generations when at first people got married to someone whose differentiation level was more or less equal to their own. Then, when the parents’ anxiety got projected onto the child, the differences in the differentiation scale of the parents came to the forefront, which lowered that child’s differentiation level compared to other family members. Subsequently, the child got married to someone with a lower level of differentiation and the patterns repeated themselves. Thus, mental illness moved from the realm of pathology to becoming the end result in the way natural family systems operated. The sibling position also determined how the individual developed within the family unit. Bowen maintained that individuals displayed certain typical characteristics which were directly related to the order in which they were born. To illustrate, the oldest child may show tendencies to always feel responsible for others and may display leadership skills. On the other hand, the younger child may be more carefree with a tendency to show dependency on others. These typical characteristics went beyond socioeconomic status, ethnic boundaries and culture. However, the age difference between siblings, if five years or more, also reduced the chances of siblings displaying those typical characteristics associated with their birth position. Bowen held that individuals in reaction to the fusion theory would experience emotional cut off in which they would deliberately seek distance from their family emotionally. This could manifest itself in putting as much physical distance as possible between themselves and their family, having limited contact with family members, withdrawing within themselves or avoiding any confrontational scenes in an emotionally charged atmosphere. Thus, for the positive development of the individual within the family system, unresolved fusion in family origins should be understood and worked upon. The sociological development of the individual also depends to a great extent on the forces of togetherness and separateness or individuality. Just like in families, society too experiences increase in anxiety with the corresponding rise in the forces of togetherness. This affects the individual and the pressure to conform is tremendous. When societal anxiety is low, individuals are not forced in conformity and their rights are respected. Bowen also believed that significant events such as death, unemployment, emigration also impacted the family and affected the sociological, biological and psychological processes of the individual. It is irrefutable that family has a profound effect on its members in their individual capacity and behavioral patterns run in the family transcending generations. The physical and emotional well-being of individual members of the family depends on the basic family structure and its origins. Interplay of emotions and interdependency within the family either allows or hampers the individual growth of the family members. Bowen’s family system theory is unique in that it treats the family as an emotional unit and makes us realize that the knowledge of the way emotional systems have worked in the family for generations is crucial to solving the present dysfunctions in a family and has a huge influence on the individual’s development. References Wylie, M.S.(1991). Family therapy’s neglected prophet. The family therapy net worker,15,24-37 available at http://www.dreamworld.org/sfc/a_clinical_application_of_bowen_.htm - accessed on 8th Sept.2008 http://www.wpfc.net/bowen/---Wpfc Kerr, Michael E. & Bowen.M (1988).Family Evaluation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Kerr, Michael E.(1981).Family Systems Theory and Therapy(Reprinted from Handbook of Family Therapy) Brunner/Mazel Read More