Volume 18.2

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FROM THE EDITOR:
Robert J. Noone, PhD

ARTICLE: Journal articles reflect natural systems thinking or are relevant to it. These may include concept papers as well as research studies.

BOWLBY’S ATTACHMENT THEORY AND BOWEN FAMILY SYSTEM THEORY: THEIR DIFFERENCES AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE
Anne S. McKnight, EdD, LCSW
John Bowlby (1907-1990) and Murray Bowen (1913-1990) were contemporary pioneers who departed from traditional psychoanalytic thinking that dominated psychiatry in the years after WWII. They were both trained as physicians and psychoanalysts, and served in the war and studied the impact of it on soldiers who fought. This article explores how Bowlby and Bowen each developed their thinking during the post-war period and examines some of the significant theoretical differences between their theories and the implications for clinical practice.

FACULTY CASE CONFERENCE: Presentation of a faculty clinical case, followed by a discussion with faculty members of the Bowen Center.

A BOWEN COACH’S ATTEMPT AT A STRONG START
Presenter: John Millikin, PhD, LMFT
The presenter considers what is a strong or effective start for a Bowen coach and in what way does how he starts the first couple of sessions create a trajectory? The presentation and discussion also considers Dr. Millikin’s interest in exploring how he is managing himself in the coaching process using theory and methodologies that are consistent with theory, particularly the concept of the family as an emotional unit.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: A special feature of Family Systems is a previously unpublished manuscript by Murray Bowen and other researchers in the family field.

NUCLEAR FAMILY AND THE PROJECTION PROCESS: BASIC SERIES LECTURE #2
Murray Bowen, MD
Introduction by Daniel V. Papero, PhD, LCSW
In 1970, Murray Bowen’s family systems theory represented a new entry in the world of psychiatry. Interest in the family ran high as reports appeared from various sources touting the value of a family approach to the treatment of mental illness. In that year Bowen, using the relatively new medium of videotape, recorded a series of lectures at the Medical College of Virginia in which he laid out his theoretical work. That series of lectures, now referred to formally as the Basic Series and informally as the chalk-talks, remains a much-viewed classic presentation of family systems theory. In preparation for each lecture series, Bowen wrote out a script or text to follow in the lectures. The manuscript, printed here for the first time, covers the second lecture of the series. This manuscript has neither the structure nor tone of a research article. Instead, it captures Bowen’s relatively straightforward, even at times folksy, way of describing his ideas simply and clearly.

BOOK REVIEWS: Reviews on books relevant to Bowen theory and its many applications.

The Song of The Cell
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Reviewed by Cecilia Guzman, MS, LCPC

It Didn’t Start With You : How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are And How To End The Cycle
by Mark  Wolynn
Reviewed by Kathleen Cotter Cauley, MEd, LMFT