2017: 54th Annual Symposium
This year’s two-day Symposium entitled, Family and Its Influence on Development throughout the Life Course, will focus on the developmental process of the human in health and adjustment across the life course. Two eminent scientists, Dr. Gregory Miller and Dr. Elizabeth Skowron, will present their research and will participate in a roundtable discussion and panels. Victoria Harrison will be the lead faculty throughout the conference. Other presenters will address how Bowen theory gives a framework for understanding the impact of family life on the child and her future development.
Friday, November 3, 2017
Family, Chronic Anxiety, and Sustained Vulnerability to Heightened Stress Reactivity over the Life Course - Robert J. Noone, PhD
This presentation purports that the level of chronic anxiety at play in the family both determines the impact of early life adversity on the development of individuals and the degree to which vulnerability to stress is sustained over the life course.
Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspective - Barbara Laymon, MPH, MS, LGPC
Although Felitti’s groundbreaking work on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is almost twenty years old, the problem remains largely inexorable. Here, I explore the difference that a Bowen family systems theory perspective might make in understanding and addressing ACEs.
Discussion
Understanding and Ameliorating the Physical Health Problems Associated with Early Life AdversitY - Gregory Miller, PhD
Dr. Miller will present evidence that early adversity affects physical health across the lifespan, discuss our evolving knowledge of the mechanisms involved, and consider the protective role that psychological interventions with families may have.
The Immature Parent - Daniel V. Papero, PhD, LCSW-C, LICSW
In this talk Dr. Papero explores the roots of the parental focus and discuss how a parent might start or restart his or her own developmental effort to increase personal maturity and thus reduce vulnerability to the parental focus.
Emotional CutOff and Family Projection in an Adopted Family - Laura R. Brooks, LCSW-C
The Adoption Family Study, now going on for twelve years, describes within-family variability in families with adopted children. This presentation describes emotional cutoff and family projection process in a research family that includes a single parent with a birth child and an adopted child.
Discussion
The Difference Bowen Theory Makes for Research and Clinical Practice - Victoria Harrison, MA, LMFT
When studying reactions to adversity, Bowen theory includes the impact of relationships between generations of the family and during childhood over biology and behavior of family members. Examples from the Observations of Change research project will illustrate factors that influence symptom development and variation in changes in anxious physiology and functioning associated with decreasing symptoms and improving functioning for the family.
What Happens When the Hitting Stops? Understanding Symptom Development in Children Exposed to Domestic Violence through the Lens of Bowen Family Systems Theory - Amie Post, MA, LCMFT
Family experiences of domestic violence are often viewed as traumatic to the children who are exposed to domestic violence. Bowen family systems theory offers a different lens to view symptom development in children who have experienced violence in their families.
Discussion
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Targeting Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Self-Regulation in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy with Child Welfare Families - Elizabeth Skowron, PhD
Dr. Skowron will present findings from her program of research documenting real-time associations in mother and child autonomic physiology and observed behaviors in child welfare-involved families. Current NIH-funded research on Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), focused on investigating the neurobiological bases of change in parent and child self-regulation skills will be discussed, along with a brief discussion of PCIT’s theorized mechanisms of change and preliminary study findings through the lens of Bowen theory and its basic principles.
The Parenting Soft/Hard Split - Jennifer Brown, PhD
Exploring qualitative data on parents reveals a repeating theme of parenting-style tensions about whether a tougher or more nurturing style is appropriate for their symptomatic child.
The Developing Child: Perspectives of Attachment and Family Systems Theories - Anne S. McKnight, EdD, LCSW, LICSW
Attachment theory and family systems theory both consider the relationship between the mother and child. This presentation will explore how the differences in the theoretical orientation affect clinical assessment, treatment, and outcome for the child.
Discussion
Research Award
Roundtable Discussion – Victoria Harrison, Gregory Miller, Robert Noone, Daniel Papero, Elizabeth Skowron
Of Elegies and Hip Hop: Measures for Mitigating a Regression - Anthony Wilgus, MSW
Emotional process in society can compromise vulnerable groups. However, the experiences of a poor white person from Appalachia with an addicted mother and an African American man with a history of criminal behavior yield some of the critical components necessary for modifying a family regression.
The Family Projection Process across the Socioeconomic Spectrum - Michael Sullivan, LMSW
The family projection process is a relationship pattern that operates within all families. This presentation will examine the variation in this pattern within families across the socioeconomic spectrum.