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Thinking Systems Blog

Chronic Anxiety in Physical Illness

January 22, 2023From the Archives
Chronic Anxiety and balancing self in relationships

From the Archives - Chronic Anxiety in Physical Illness

Dr. Bowen spoke at a conference on cancer in 1978 about his thinking of how a disease like cancer could develop. It was quite different thinking at the time. He started by making the point that most psychiatrists (which he was) talked about families as systems or the family as a unit, but didn't really operate from a systems perspective. "I seriously doubt if even the most experienced family researcher, therapist, can think and act systems more than a fraction of the time."

Function UP in 2023

January 14, 2023Define self
Define your self directed goals

Function UP in 2023

It's that time of year when I think about my intentions for functioning up in the coming year. A systems perspective has me thinking about how I'm functioning in my family and workplace systems. The concept of functioning is an important one in Bowen family systems theory. It came from Dr. Bowen's goal to understand human behaviour by recording what he called functional facts. Function facts are what independent observers might record about an interaction between two or more people. For example, a parent, after having an argument with a child, then complaining to their partner is a function fact regarding triangles. The content of what they said might be a fact, but we can observe their behaviour of talking to a third person objectively. Dr. Bowen and his team did this over a period of five years during his NIMH research project with families.

Family Projection Process – From the Archive

December 22, 2022family projection, From the Archives

Family Projection Process

The family projection process is one of eight concepts that make up Bowen theory. Dr. Bowen believed that there were enough observations from his research and clinical work that it warranted being a separate concept. It is important to remember that this is just one of eight concepts and other ideas that make up a system's way of thinking about human behaviour. Dr. Bowen wondered how levels of differentiation get transmitted from one generation to the next. While he didn't like the term projection, he couldn't come up with a better one.

Defining Self – Always do this

December 16, 2022Define self

Defining a self - always do this.

Defining one's self is a lot of work and a lifelong process. However, one can improve their functioning at any time. Here are some ideas, from a system's perspective, that can increase one's level of differentiation, albeit over time.

Workplace Systems – From the Archive

November 24, 2022From the Archives, workplace systems
From the archive

Workplace systems and family systems theory.

In 1978, Dr. Bowen gave a thirty-minute presentation entitled "Overview of Bowen Theory and Organizational Systems." By then, he had years of experience in leadership roles from his time in the military and at several medical and psychiatric institutions. He was also working to apply the principles in the Georgetown Family Center, where he was the director.

Value of Family History

November 15, 2022Uncategorized
Value of Family History

The value of family history

There are multiple reasons for the value of understanding the facts of one's family history. It supports one's development of more objective thinking on family matters. The process of gathering family history facts expands one's contact with extended family. It helps one understand the role they play in their family.

Family as Systems

October 27, 2022Uncategorized

Families act as a system for a reason.

Our desire to be calm drives more behaviour than we realize. This is a significant factor in families acting as systems.

Emotional Contagion

October 15, 2022emotional system
family system

Emotional contagion is real

Emotional contagion is a field of study that validates much of what Dr. Bowen conceptualized in the 1960s. Dr. Bowen, who read widely across scientific disciplines, believed that we inherited the basis for the human emotional system from other species. It involves all the automatic physiological responses to external and internal stimuli. For example, you don’t have to “think” about backing away from a cliff. Or being attracted to another person. Or shivering if you get cold enough. I’ll use the word emotion to mean a non-conscious, physiological response to stimuli.

Immune System’s Defining of Self

September 24, 2022Define self
Immune System

The Immune System defines self

Nature has a way of defining the physical self for all organisms via the immune system. Evolution built our immune system to recognize non-self from self. Accordingly, mechanisms like the immune system are the root of the physical self defining itself to other organisms. What can we learn about defining self from our immune system?

Personal Growth: Six Key Learnings

September 12, 2022Define self

Personal growth: Individual Effort in Social Systems

Does an individual's anxiety level vary when embarking on a journey of personal and spiritual growth? How would the existing social system react to the change? Would the level of anxiety vary over a long period? What sustains the individual on their journey? With these questions, I did a research project including in-depth interviews of ten family systems from different cultural backgrounds and localities. Here are some key lessons.

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