Differentiation
The ability to balance emotional connection with independence.
What is differentiation of self?
Psychiatrist who developed Family Systems Theory.
Who is Murray Bowen?
A visual family mapping tool commonly used in Bowenian therapy.
What is a genogram?
A major critique of traditional Bowenian theory is its limited attention to this area.
What is culture?
One counseling technique that involves asking questions to increase awareness of relational patterns.
What are process questions?
Individuals with this characteristic can remain calm and think clearly under stress.
What is high differentiation?
Bowen believed families operate as this type of system.
What is an emotional system?
This occurs when parents transfer anxiety onto a child.
What is the family projection process?
Racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism are examples of these.
What are systems of oppression?
The therapist role in Bowenian therapy is often described using these four words.
What are calm, thoughtful, curious, and non-reactive?
Bowen believed people with low levels of this are more likely to become emotionally reactive.
What is differentiation?
According to Bowen, this is the major force driving relationship problems.
What is chronic anxiety?
Distancing oneself emotionally or physically from family members.
What is emotional cutoff?
Bowen's concept describing how societal stress affects family functioning.
What is the societal emotional process?
This intervention helps clients reduce emotional reactivity and increase intentional responses.
What is coaching?
This cultural value may place greater emphasis on interdependence rather than individual autonomy.
What is collectivism?
The smallest stable emotional unit in Bowenian theory.
What is a triangle?
When a child becomes the focus of parental conflict, the child is serving this role.
What is the symptom bearer (or being triangulated)?
A socioculturally attuned genogram includes these experiences in addition to family relationships.
What are experiences of privilege, oppression, migration, or historical trauma?
A school counselor notices a student is caught between divorced parents. This is an example of what Bowenian concept?
What is triangulation?
A socioculturally attuned therapist avoids defining healthy differentiation solely through these values.
What are Western individualistic values?
This concept explains how patterns are passed from one generation to the next.
What is the multigenerational transmission process?
Name two family patterns commonly transmitted across generations.
What are parenting styles, conflict patterns, trauma responses, substance use, attachment patterns, etc.?
Therapists should remain completely neutral when clients discuss experiences of discrimination.
What is False?
Name one way school counselors can apply Bowenian concepts in educational settings.
What is identifying triangles, exploring family patterns, facilitating family-school collaboration, assessing systemic stressors, or promoting differentiation?