1. Discuss the early leaders. Bowen created genograms because he brought so many family members into his sessions, even aunts, uncles, in-laws, and grandparents. He sometimes found family issues that had been passed on from earlier generations, and this could be good or bad. Naming kids after other family members can be bad if people in the family assume that the people with the same names will have the same traits. Alcoholism and depression are types of things that get passed from one generation to the next, either by genetics or by example. Genograms help pattern things that have been passed on. Violent parents tend to breed violent children. We grow up thinking that our family is normal, so we emulate the behaviors that we see. It is important to stop the bad patterns in the family. One should be quick to help self fix old problems but also try to help others as possible.

Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy was a Russian psychotherapist (most of Europe was and is still in psychoanalysis), and in 1957, he started the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute (EPPI), which is still around today, to do research and training on schizophrenics and their family. It attracted a lot of new people to the center (James Framo, David Rubenstein, Geraldine Sparks, and Gerald Zuck). He introduced the idea of morality into the goals and techniques of counseling. From that came his beliefs that: (1) family members must trust in their beliefs and be loyal to the family and (2) depending on the integrity/morality of the relationship and the complementing of needs between partners, that marital patterns will develop trustworthy give and take relationships. If both of these pieces are in place, the marriage will be healthy. He also came up with the invisible loyalty which are unconscious commitments and guilt that children take on to help the family, often to the child's detriment. The child can get sick or in trouble just to make the family work. Eating disorders are often in very enmeshed families and sometimes very controlling families.

Jay Haley was a very prominent therapist in the 1960s. He was a networker, and he started the strategic family therapy. He expanded the work of Milton Erickson into family therapy. He focused on the marital dyiad of husband and wife. He focused on maintaining his power in sessions, maintaining that his clients would not listen to him otherwise. One of his styles was to push for natural behavior during the sessions, for the people to do whatever they would if they could. He was very active in therapy and counseling, hoping that they would gain insight into the family.

				Tom of Bethany

Back To TLEE's Home Page

Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews