Delivery date
Bowen’s Family Systems Model Theory is a theory that explains how human being behave. It uses the family as the central unit that affects to a large extent the emotional condition of a member of the family. Family members are related and thus affect the emotional condition of each other. Despite the fact that it is not openly viewed, family members are connected despite the distance or any disagreements that may keep them apart. They influence each other’s emotions, actions, feelings, and thoughts. They also respond to each other’s needs and wants, give support, approval, and attention. As a result, a change in one person, be it sickness or emotional condition, is directly attributed to changes in the other family members making them a point of interest in solving that particular person’s case.
The theory consists of eight concepts that interlock. They include family projection process, sibling position, triangles, multigenerational transmission process, cutoff, differentiation of self and societal emotional process.. Let’s consider triangle as the fundamental concept for the paper. According to Bowen, whenever a two-person dyad experiences anxiety, a third person to complete a triangle can help to relieve the anxiety. However, this only happens when the three people manage the anxiety as well as reactivity.
Let’s consider the white family from which a boy named Austin was a mental health patient at the age of seven years. He was diagnosed with mood disorder, attention deficit disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. Initially, he used to live with just his mother as his parents had divorced earlier. However, after the age of seven, the father came back into the picture, and they acted as a family. The parents failed to handle their marital issues and concentrated only with Austin, which increased anxiety levels on the boy. The family condition was described as contributing greatly towards the Austin’s condition as it only started after the father came into the picture. It was thus necessary to help the parent work out their issues to enable Austin recover. However, a nurse or therapist should not tell them their problem directly as they should remain neutral. In this case, the parents were advised to use “I” term other than “we” so that they can indicate how they impacted on Austin’s condition directly. It helped them realize their mistakes and this aided in the recovery of Austin.
References
Haefner, J. (2014, October). An Application of Bowen Family Systems Theory. Mental Health Nursing, pp. 835–841.
Winek, J. (2009). Bowenian Family Therapy. In J. Winek, First Generaion Models of Marriage and Family Therapy (pp. 81-105).
