Volume 15.2
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Table of Contents
Robert J. Noone, PhD
ARTICLES: Journal articles reflect natural systems thinking or are relevant to it. These may include concept papers as well as research studies.
Phillip Klever, MSW
Bowen theory explains how tension and undifferentiation influence individual and family functioning through emotional, relationship processes within the family unit. This article examines one of those nuclear family emotional processes, the dysfunctional spouse process or divergent functioning in the marriage. Over fifteen years the study found variation within the sample in divergent spouse functioning ranging from absence to persistence in frequency of the pattern, from mild to severe symptoms, and from fluctuation to rigidity in who was the more and less symptomatic spouse.
See a conversation with the author and Family System’s editor, Robert J. Noone.
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENDERS: OVERVIEW AND PERSPECTIVES OF BOWEN THEORY
John F. Butler, PhD
This article begins with a review of assessment tools specific to child pornography offenders and then considers the applications of the concepts of Bowen family system theory in this clinical area. Bowen theory shifts the focus from the individual to the multigenerational family using theory for assessment and treatment. Last, using Bowen theory, several clinical cases are presented.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: A special feature of Family Systems is a previously unpublished manuscript by Murray Bowen and other researchers in the family field. Since the manuscripts reflect the thinking of the authors at the time they were written, they are introduced with comments to place them in historical context. Dr. Bowen’s manuscripts have been selected from a large archive of written records that are preserved at the National Library of Medicine.
Murray Bowen, MD
Introduction by Robert J. Noone, PhD
In this article, originally written for the 1986 newsletter of the Western Pennsylvania Family Center in Pittsburgh, Bowen presents some of the difficulties involved in the integration and acceptance of a new way of thinking.
FACULTY CASE CONFERENCE: Presentation of a faculty clinical case, followed by a discussion with faculty members of the Bowen Center.
EMOTIONAL PROCESS WHEN A SPOUSE CHANGES GENDER
Laura R. Brooks, MSW
What is the emotional process in a marriage when one of the spouses transitions to the other gender? Is the process unique? Is a spouse’s decision to transition to the other gender a symptom, an adaptation, or an effort to define self? In this family, the adaptive patterns in the marriage were apparent since the couple’s courtship and persist throughout the transition of the husband to the female gender. After years of opting for harmony by going along with her husband, the wife uses the crisis to define herself more clearly in the relationship.
BOOK REVIEW: Reviews on books relevant to Bowen theory and its many applications.
Robert Kolker
Reviewed by Michael E. Kerr, MD