Deck 4: Bowen Family Systems Therapy

Question 1

A Bowen therapist working with an individual family member in treatment is most likely to do which of the following?

A) create a therapeutic triangle
B) use displacement stories
C) model how to take an "I" position
D) work with a genogram
E) C and D

Answer 1

C and D

Question 2

The primary goal of Bowen family therapy is to

A) heighten emotional experiencing in family members
B) increase the family's repertoire of problem-solving skills
C) improve communication between family members
D) increase the level of self-focus in family members

Answer 2

increase the level of self-focus in family members

Question 3

"Differentiated" individuals

A) can extricate themselves from all emotional triangles
B) can balance their needs for closeness and autonomy
C) avoid contact with their parents
D) approach life in a purely rational fashion

Answer 3

can balance their needs for closeness and autonomy

Question 4

According to Bowen theory, more highly differentiated individuals will likely

A) avoid the expression of intense emotions
B) avoid contact with dysfunctional family members
C) have parents who are well differentiated
D) be firstborn children
E) A and C

Question 5

An increase in chronic anxiety in the nuclear family system will tend to ________ less differentiated families, while it will ________ more highly differentiated families.

A) be absorbed by/promote growth in
B) promote growth in/be absorbed by
C) cause an increase in symptoms in/be absorbed by
D) cause a decrease in symptoms in/promote growth in

Question 6

Murray Bowen developed his ideas about family therapy while at the NIMH, studying ________ families. Based on his observations of these families' intense clinging interdependence, he concluded that a lack of differentiation was responsible for all family pathology.

A) alcoholic
B) depressed
C) neurotic
D) psychotic

Question 7

By training family members in 3 areas--teaching differentiation, avoiding triangulation, and ________, Bowen therapists can enable a single individual to transform the whole network of his or her family system.

A) avoiding expression of intense emotions
B) reopening cut-off family relationships
C) increasing contact with dysfunctional family members
D) all of these choices

Question 8

In Bowen theory, the flight from a conflictual emotional attachment to one's parents is known as

A) emotional cutoff
B) enmeshment
C) disengagement
D) fusion

Question 9

In Bowen theory, this is a process wherein the projection of varying degrees of immaturity to different children in the same family occurs. The child who is most involved in the family emerges with the lowest level of differentiation, and passes on problems to succeeding generations.

A) societal emotional process
B) family projection process
C) nuclear family emotional process
D) multigenerational transmission process

Question 10

This Bowenian concept describes the level of emotional "stuck-togetherness" or fusion in the family.

A) unconscious need complementarity
B) lack of differentiation of self
C) triangling
D) A and C

Question 11

According to Bowen, ________ are the smallest stable unit of human relations.

A) dyads
B) triangles
C) foursomes
D) none of these choices

Question 12

The central premise of Bowen theory is that unresolved ________ must be resolved before one can differentiate a mature, healthy personality.

A) oedipal conflicts
B) emotional experiencing
C) emotional reactivity to one's family of origin
D) attachment deficits

Question 13

From a Bowenian perspective, optimal development in the family occurs when all members are relatively differentiated, anxiety is low, and parents

A) form an executive subsystem
B) cut-off from dysfunctional family members
C) avoid heightened emotionality
D) remain in emotional contact with their families of origin

Question 14

People tend to marry spouses at ________ levels of differentiation.

A) varying
B) similar
C) complementary
D) opposite

Question 15

Unlike experiential therapists, Bowenians seek to ________ levels of anxiety in order to increase levels of differentiation of self in the family.

A) increase
B) identify
C) monitor
D) decrease

Question 16

________ is a prominent technique in Bowen therapy designed to clarify emotional processes involved in altering key triangles. The technique is used in order to help family members become aware of systems processes and recognize their own roles in them--it was first developed for use with emotional pursuers and distancers.

A) relationship experiments
B) coaching
C) use of genograms
D) use of displacement stories

Question 17

According to feminist Bowenians, ________ causes the most problems in American families.

A) patriarchy
B) domestic violence
C) emotional fusion
D) A and C

Question 18

According to the principles of which Bowenian construct, simply teaching a mother better techniques for disciplining her son will fail, because the intervention ignores the problem that she is overinvolved with the boy as a result of her husband's emotional distance.

A) enmeshment
B) multigenerational transmission process
C) emotional cutoff
D) triangles

Question 19

Bowen's concept "differentiation of self" is most like, which of the following?

A) independence
B) disengagement
C) self-actualization
D) ego strength

Question 20

What are emotional triangles? How and why are they formed?

Question 21

What are the multigenerational emotional processes? Give an example that illustrates these processes.

Question 22

Compare and contrast emotional fusion and enmeshment. How are they alike; how are they different?

Question 23

According to Bowen theory, a lack of differentiation in the nuclear family will tend to be expressed in one of three ways. List and give an example of each.

Question 24

A 25-year-old, single man seeks consultation. He is depressed and anxious, and his self-esteem is low. His father expected him to be an attorney like himself, but the client has been unsuccessful in his repeated applications to law school. He lives with his parents, and there is much tension in the home whenever his career plans are discussed. At present he is working as a therapy aide in a state psychiatric center. He enjoys his work but is embarrassed that he is employed beneath the level one would expect for a college graduate.
Discuss the case from a Bowenian perspective. Be specific when applying Bowen's theoretical constructs. Second, indicate how, for this client, the Bowenian approach would differ from a more traditional theoretical approach (individual therapy or vocational counseling).

Question 25

List the stages of the family life cycle (Carter and McGoldrick, 1988) and describe the primary tasks of each stage. Consider how the therapist would intervene from a Bowenian perspective with the family at each of these stages.

Question 26

What is the basic procedure Bowenian therapists use with couples and how does this differ from, say, structural family therapy (or narrative, etc.) with couples?

Question 27

What are the primary (concrete) things to accomplish in working to improve relationships in one's original family?

Question 28

To what extent is "differentiation of self" more than just a synonym for "maturity"?

Question 29

What is the difference between Guerin's focus in family therapy versus Bowen's?