Family Theory

Way back in 1967 when Murray Bowen first publically
proposed the idea of family theory or family therapy system he
was not appreciated but his ideas are now being used by
therapists with families. Any individual is inseparable from its
network of relationships and all therapists who faced problems
with the family of origin of the patients found this theory
helpful as the awareness helped them to normalize the human
behaviour of the people who were being treated.
Participants of the arrangement are anticipated to react to each
other in a definite fashion conferring to their character, which is
determined by relationship pacts. Within the confines of the
structure, forms cultivate as definite family member's actions is
instigated by and causes other family member's activities in
expectable behaviours. Retaining the similar design of actions
within a structure might lead to stability in the family system,
but also to dysfunction. For instance in a family if the wife is
depressed then the husband needs to take up the duties. This
change in the job roles will help in stabilizing the relationship
and will help in pushing the family in a diverse stability. This
new stability attained may not last long as the husband may
not be able to maintain his undertaken duties for a long time.
Murray Bowen has introduced eight such different concepts in
his theory which have been discussed in this EBook.