The family emotional system

Abstract

The family emotional system (FES) regulates the functioning of the human family. As described by Bowen, the FES contains several components. Two forces, the togetherness and individuality forces, function in proportional opposition to one another. Anxiety, the emotional response of the organism to real or imagined threat, provides the motivational energy that powers the system. Two equilibria lie at the centre of the family emotional system, emotional equilibrium and functional equilibrium. When the two are in balance, a condition Bowen called emotional harmony prevails. A third equilibrium, the togetherness–individuality equilibrium, regulates the lability of emotional harmony. Disturbances of emotional harmony result in the activation of automatic mechanisms and processes that support the restoration of emotional harmony. Like the mechanisms that support homeostasis in the living organism, they work optimally when rapidly engaged and quickly disengaged when balance is restored. Prolonged disturbance of emotional harmony results in a resetting of the togetherness–individuality equilibrium in favour of increased togetherness, establishing a new, more sensitive set point around which the FES now stabilises. To maintain the new more labile condition, one or more of the mechanisms becomes chronically engaged, indicating an emotional adaptation of the system and a potential for the development of a symptom as a consequence of the adaptation. Finally, the work on differentiation of self (One of eight concepts that comprise the formal Bowen theory, the scale of differentiation of self places human functioning on a single continuum based upon ‘… the degree to which people are able to distinguish between the feeling process and the intellectual process (Bowen, 1978, p. 355)’. The degree of differentiation, according to Bowen, affects how people manage themselves in personal relationships and in their efforts to adapt to the challenges of life (Bowen, 1978). The work on differentiation, an aspect of family psychotherapy, describes the effort people make to become better observers of themselves in relationships and in the processes of problem-solving related to challenge. It involves the effort the person makes to manage emotional reactiveness, an instinctive, reflexive response to stimuli encountered, to guide behavior thoughtfully, and to enhance emotional autonomy within the network or system of family relationships.) can lead to a progressive reset of the balance from less to more stable, representing an enhancement of adaptive competency.