Family Systems Theory

Family Systems Theory was introduced by Dr. Murray Bowen in 1952 (Bryannan, 1999). It was believed at the time to be a radical theory, but is now regarded as one of the best ways to help with family and personal troubles. Bowen was the first to recognize that a family, like any other group, was greater than the sum of its parts. He found that patterns of abuse in families have often persisted for many generations, and it is this family energy field that contributes to the problem. The energy within a family is stable, and each member of the family plays a role in keeping this energy stable. As an example of this, the first child usually acquires the values and goals of the parents, the second child acquires the griefs of the parents, the third child acquires the unresolved conflicts between the paren

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Category: Psychology - F