The primary purpose of this study is to investigate on the theory of Murray Bowen's family therapy and to find out it's effectiveness by applying the process of family therapy to certain people in conflict with their family members.
The method of this study is merged the research of Bowen's theory with practical case studies.
In this study the author searched the main concepts of Bowen's family therapy theory such as differentiation, triangle, multi- generational transmission process, family projection process, sibling position profiles, societal emotional process and genogram and applied those concepts to the practical cases and analyzed the results.
The case study has been conducted in total 10 sessions through personal interviewing and counselling with a person named Y for 60-90 minutes. The author used genogram to identify the composition of family origin and their relations as well as the trend of family relation changes. Based on the identified result, the author had gone through a qualitative analysis and the qualitative study by conducting an MMPI-2 to a member of Y's family members.
The results of this study is as follows:
First, it was analyzed that the chronic anxiety which originated from the family origin is shown up its symptoms in a nuclear family emotional system and is tend to decrease the children's differentiation level. The anxiety of Y caused her to take care of her family far more exceedingly than her ability and responsibility and make her feel her family members are the unable and that had led her to a low differentiation of self.
Second, it was identified that the chronic triangles decreases the children's differentiation level and lead to multigenerational transmission process. S, his grandfather and grandmother had formed a chronic triangles due to their emotional system of anxiety. Y, who has a compassionate heart for her mother, had been very fused relationship with S, and that had made them form a triangles in which three of them had shown emotional reactivity behavior. Their children influenced by their parents' emotional reactivity had shown a tendency to see parents' attitude and had a tendency too much dependent on their parents' decisions and ideas.
Third, a therapeutic effort to increase the self-differentiation level of one member in a family is identified as an effective way in increasing of emotional system of the whole family. Y's increased intellectual system helped her aware of her anxiety through her cognitive awareness and build her sense of autonomy and independence so that she could increase her differentiation level. Y's increased sense of independence had influenced on the family triangles and helped S be stabilized in his emotional system and the whole family be in decreasing their anxiety level.