The Two Hierarchies: A Conversation

Presenters: Laurie Lassiter, PhD, MSW, and Selden Dunbar Illick, LCSW

Presentation description: Dr. Laurie Lassiter and Selden Dunbar Illick will present thinking and questions about “The Two Hierarchies,” including variation in differentiation of self and variation in socioeconomic status. What are the origins of each, and how can Bowen theory illuminate the two?

Bios: Laurie Lassiter, PhD, MSW trained with Murray Bowen in the Georgetown Postgraduate Program and consulted with him about her own family from 1986 to 1990. She has presented at the Bowen Center Symposia and other conferences since 1991 and has written several articles and book chapters. Based on her learning from Dr. Bowen, she introduced a triangle hypothesis, describing the regulation of individuals to function for the emotional system. For over 15 years, she maintained an association with the biologist Lynn Margulis, from whom she learned about the social lives of microorganisms, including present-day representatives of early life. Dr. Margulis believed that Bowen theory could be applied even to nonhuman forms of life. Dr. Lassiter continues to coach individuals in the theory and to participate in groups to expand the theory.

Selden Dunbar Illick, LCSW, has been in private practice for over 30 years and is licensed in both New Jersey and Florida. She founded the Princeton Family Center based on Murray Bowen’s natural systems theory and is a Trustee Emeritus of the board of the Princeton Family Center for Education. She also serves on the board of the Florida Family Research Network, FFRN. Ms Illick consults with people who are interested in better-navigating the challenges of

everyday life. She is a frequent presenter on the topic of managing self in family emotional systems and recently contributed a chapter titled “Unresolved Emotional Attachments in a Family with Chronic Illness and Death” to Death and Chronic in the Family: Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspectives.