Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy最新文献

This paper overviews Bowen family systems theory and its approach to family therapy. It aims to introduce this influential approach and a sample of developments in theory and practice since Bowen's first publications of his research and theory. This paper is the second edition of a 1999 article with the same title (Brown, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 20, 94 and 1999) and, 25 years later, offers new insights from the original author's ongoing research into the theory. This new edition is in collaboration with a second author and Bowen theory scholar, bringing fresh perspectives on the theory's applicability to family therapy practice. The core concepts are presented briefly, and a case example with a parent and symptomatic adolescent demonstrates how theory informs the role of the therapist and the therapeutic work. Examples of criticisms of Bowen theory are also discussed, including the misinterpretation around the idea of emotion in Bowen theory that is communicated in Gottman's training. Differentiation of self is clarified as the integration of emotion and intellect rather than privileging one over another, which affords the opportunity for individuals to avoid being governed by the invisible strings of sensitivities in relationships and instead be themselves in good emotional contact with the other person.

This interview with Dr Michael Kerr highlights his ongoing interest in science, biology and neuroscience. Guided by Bowen family systems theory, Dr Kerr's observations examine how research is showing links between physical health, the immune response and psychological motivation and wellbeing. Wellbeing is compromised in less adaptive families, which succumb more easily to any anxiety generated outside the family, as well as the chronic anxiety generated within the family. Amid times of societal regression, the capacity to adapt in a way that promotes survival and wellbeing depends on the level of differentiation of self. Differentiation of self is the sum of the capacity to maintain emotional objectivity, emotional neutrality and to take action. Psychiatrist, Dr Michael (Mike) Kerr, who more recently published Bowen Theory's Secrets: Revealing the hidden lives of families (2019), co-authored the seminal work on Bowen family systems theory, Family Evaluation, in 1988 with Dr Murray Bowen. From 1990 to 2011, after Dr Bowen's death, Mike was the Director of the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family in Washington, DC. He is passionate about the relationship between differentiation of self, illness and the family emotional process and how this relates to the biological and evolutionary processes that operate in non-human species. Mike developed the unidisease concept and is well known for his work interviewing Dr Murray Bowen on Bowen family systems theory between 1979 and 1986 for the Bowen-Kerr Interview Series. A special issue on Bowen theory would not be complete without a commentary from Mike. So, in this interview with Bowen family systems therapist, Dr Linda MacKay, Mike discusses his life effort to research and apply Bowen theory.

Dr Murray Bowen, developer of Bowen family systems theory (BFST), had this to say to clients about working in family systems: if you get bogged down in one area, move into another (Bowen & Kerr, 1985). This statement, along with the knowledge of BFST, offered an inspiration for thinking about a method of therapy. This article highlights a method of working with an individual through a systemic lens. Two ideas are integral to this focus. One is that a client can move more easily into observing self within the system when they are not just observing self in one context or relationship but rather looking at how they function in different contexts or relationships. And second, by moving into different contexts of the system, the therapist is better able to manage the tendency towards symptom focus and stay centred on the work of differentiation. A therapist can truly have a stadium view of the system when speaking with the client about how they function in different areas of life. This method defined happens in three phases: in phase 1, the client observes themselves in their system in different contexts and looks for patterns in their functioning; in phase 2, the client takes this new self-recognition and experiments with different ways of being in one context; and in phase 3, the insights gained from experiments in one context are applied in other contexts. Both client and clinician will benefit from less symptom focus and increased ability to observe patterns in relationships, both of which are core tenets of the work of differentiation in BFST.

This article presents a survey of literature written on the concepts of estrangement and cut-off, comparing the similarities of the two concepts and distinguishing significant differences in the scope and theoretical underpinnings of the ideas. Lucy Blake's review of the research studies on estrangement available in 2017 found no common agreement on the concept of estrangement. Quantitative research focused on the amount of contact and qualitative research on the quality of the contact. Susan Forward's approach to rifts between adult children and their parents, which is reflected in the work of the Standalone organisation in Britain, is that parents who are critical or non-affirming of their adult child are toxic. These traits are thought to create difficulties in the life of the adult child, who is advised to sever contact as a step towards self-actualisation. On the other hand, Joshua Coleman and Karl Pillemer focus on estrangement as the outcome of the tension between the parent and child, both of whom play a part in the rift, advocating that each side moderate their reactivity, blame and expectations. Kylie Agllias's research utilises concepts from family systems theory, recommending the effort to self-regulate and to understand one's contribution to the reactivity as integral to reconciliation. Murray Bowen conceptualised the family as a multigenerational family system with varying mechanisms, including cut-off, to handle tension as the family unit adapts to stressors over time. Cut-off is an outcome of the family's level of anxiety and the capacity of the family for differentiation, their thoughtful collaboration with one another to address the challenges they face. The effort to bridge cut-off is one aspect of an individual's effort to be a more thoughtful, connected presence in the family system as work on differentiation of self.

The concept of differentiation of self and its relationship to the natural capacity of humans and other social animals to adapt underpins clinician and researcher Victoria Harrison's long-term investigation of the biology of reactivity in relationships. Victoria's early research related to infertility and reproduction demonstrated how reactivity in at least three prior generations can contribute to chronic conditions, such as endometriosis, that are less amenable to intervention. Her most recent project, the ‘Observations of Change in Physiology and Family’ research, highlights how work on differentiation of self improves functional outcomes in physical and mental health for the family. While an individual may not experience the ‘calm mind’ that is often the goal of conventional therapeutic intervention, a significant reduction in symptoms and an improvement in overall functioning and relatedness are outcomes. This occurred when participants focused on increasing person-to-person contact with extended family members, reducing their emotional reactivity to significant others in the important triangles of their life and family and maintaining intellectual activity, often described as curiosity, even while reacting.

The human is a product of nature, and the same emotional process at work in families is at work in the relationship of the human to nature. Current global concerns and environmental changes highlight the need for humans to revisit their relationships with the natural world. The purpose of this study was to survey Murray Bowen's professional letters to reify the constructs of Bowen theory. Qualitative methodology with a narrative research design was employed. A sample (N = 250) of Dr Bowen's professional letters from the archives dating from 1965 to 1990 was analysed. Results from this analysis reveal that Bowen's writings are grounded in the language of nature and that Bowen's thinking about the human species and the family offers ways in which to see the family and humans as part of a larger system. Relating more maturely to the natural world is essential for human survival.

The present article explores the Bowen family systems theory (BFST) view that a mental disorder such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) is not a dysfunction occurring within an individual but a maladjustment of the family emotional system. A case study is presented illustrating how the emotional process moves between individuals within a family system so that when relationship processes become severely compromised, one member absorbs more of the stress, becoming vulnerable to acute symptoms. It is proposed that the use of a BFST approach with a client presenting with panic anxiety and low mood may have contributed to the lowering of symptom intensity for a sibling of the client. It appears that the client's work on her part in the relationship disturbances between her, her mother, father, and sister contributed to decreasing BPD symptoms in her sister and an improvement in overall family functioning. Therefore, the differentiating effort of one family member seemed to have a ripple effect on the whole family system. Shifting the theoretical lens from an individual-medico-diagnostic one to a BFST one sheds light on how all family members are expressions of a family organism and players in the symptoms emerging in one.

This paper attempts to address the uncertainty of some non-Western learners about the applicability of Bowen theory to Asian culture, as the theory was developed out of research on Western families and stresses defining self. Scepticism is due to the commonly held view that Asian families are collectivistic while Western families are more individualistic. This paper reviews the basic tenets of Bowen theory and its underlying premise that families are regulated by emotional processes that also operate in all living beings, that is, biological and universal. Bowen theory studies the emotional processes of families and how they react to anxiety. Viewed in this way, the theory certainly can be a useful framework for understanding family and enhancing family functioning, regardless of culture, ethnicity, and geography. The paper further discusses the use of Bowen theory in working with Asian families and Asian women, with case illustrations in enhancing mature and flexible practice of cultural values and increasing differentiation of self.

The first article for the March issue is ‘It's a magnifying glass for your relationship: a thematic analysis of motivations, benefits, and challenges in consensually non-monogamous relationships’ by Rebecca Codrington and Daniel du Plooy from Sydney, Australia. This qualitative study explores the ‘motivations, benefits, and challenges’ of consensual non-monogamous (CNM) relationships. It identifies three overarching themes: mononormativity and cultural norms; growth and responsibility; and diversity and complexity, each with several subthemes. The challenges of CNM relationships are discussed as well as strategies for managing emotions and ending a relationship for security reasons; for some participants, there was a need to unlearn internalised cultural norms that idealise monogamy. Given the CNM community is comparable to the size of the LGBTQI community and growing, it is time for relationship therapists to address biases and to develop their clinical expertise.

The second paper is ‘Black Rain: a Kaupapa Māori (a Māori approach) to addressing family violence and intergenerational trauma’ by Fay Pouesi from Auckland, New Zealand, and Rosemary Dewerse from Adelaide, South Australia. It presents a Māori approach called ‘Black Rain’ (Kaupapa) that helps men and women to break the cycles of intergenerational violence and trauma within their families. This is built on three elements: recognition and reconnection; acknowledgement of the whole family context; and a spiritual lens. Visual tools like genograms are used to highlight the generational impact of violence. Black Rain is illustrated through the work and learning of a Māori practitioner and two of her colleagues using a composite case study, and the authors note its benefits for helping both victims and perpetrators.

The next article is ‘Co-research interview—collaborative way to learn from experience’ by Eija-Liisa Rautiainen and Aino Maija Rautkallio from Helsinki, Finland. Developed by Tom Andersen and colleagues, the co-research interview, otherwise known as a post-therapy or follow-up interview, is a collaborative way of evaluating therapy outcomes that draws on the experiences of both clients and professionals. The authors describe how the interview is structured, conducted, and applied, and reflect on its use in therapy and post-therapy contexts as well as in live supervision, training, and research.

The fourth article is ‘Therapeutic crisis intervention for families: an investigation of caregiver perceptions and experiences’ by Sarah George and colleagues from Perth, Australia. The therapeutic crisis intervention for families (TCI-F) is a parent training program that has been applied globally to help caregivers deal with children in crisis. This seminal qualitative research study investigates the factors that underlie its effective implementation and describes the experiences of participants. It finds that caregivers could successfully de-escalate and manage crisis

Opie, J.E., McHale, J.P., Fonagy, P., Lieberman, A., Duschinsky, R., Keren, M. et al. (2023) Including the infant in family therapy and systemic practice: charting a new frontier. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 44, 554–564. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1002/anzf.1567.

The affiliation ‘Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia’ has been added to Dr Campbell Paul, alongside his existing two affiliations.

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