Clinical Videotapes

Confidentiality does not permit other institutions to own copies of clinical tapes. They will not be rented until the rental agreement is signed by the professional responsible for their showing and is returned to the Family Center. Please complete the rental agreement on the tape order form.

Rental fee: $100.00 each per showing.
All tapes are 60 minutes

One Year of Family Therapy with the Same Family
This tape shows the course of family therapy for twelve sessions covering exactly one year. It demonstrates the method and technique of therapy and clinical evidence of change. 1975.

Focus on the Extended Family in Family Therapy
This tape contains segments that deal specifically with the extended family over a period of five years. It shows the method of helping a wife with frequent visits home, and the results of her effort to define herself in the family of origin. 1975.

Differentiation in the Three-Generational Triangle
This tape is designed primarily to communicate the idea that parents can be most effective in dealing with a child-focused problem by working towards resolving issues with their own parents. Illustrative segments from actual family therapy sessions are used in conjunction with a didactic presentation. 1976.

Psychotic Reaction: A Family Systems Phenomenon
This tape utilizes both a didactic presentation and videotaped segments from ongoing family therapy sessions to illustrate the relationship between repeated psychotic reactions and the family process. Emotional dysfunction in a spouse is discussed as it relates to adaptiveness. For change to be more than symptom relief it requires basic change in that functioning position. 1976.

Towards Resolution of the Emotional Attachment to the Past Generations
This videotape demonstrates the concept that change in self is best achieved by modifying one's functioning in relation to parents and extended family. Clinical examples from ongoing therapy sessions are used to illustrate the didactic materials presented. 1977.

Toward Differentiating a Self in Caring for Aging Parents
This videotape focuses on the theoretical concept of attempting to change self in relation to elderly and infirm parents by caring for them in one's own home. Dr. Bowen interviews a family which discusses the unique opportunity that such an effort can provide. 1978.

Physical Symptoms and Aging from a Family Theory and Therapy Perspective
This tape focuses on the emotional processes surrounding physical dysfunction in one member of an older couple. It emphasizes how emotional process can intensify or trigger physical symptoms, and how a person's automatic reactions to physical symptoms can inadvertently make things worse. It also presents the view that a particular emotional dysfunction in an older person is an intensified version of a lifelong pattern of managing anxiety. 1978.

Bypassing the Nuclear Family
Dr. Bowen presents how conflict in a marriage will dissipate over time if either spouse is able to define a self in his or her own family of origin. The process whereby one person makes an effort to understand his or her own family and to establish calmer, more objective relationships is different from the use of techniques like "going home again" or venting one's feelings to the family. In four clinical segments, participants describe their learning experiences in their own family systems. 1981.

Chemical Dependency and Systems Thinking: - Part 1
In this videotape a couple discusses their experience with alcohol problems and the impact of those problems on their children. Dr. Bowen broadens the focus by looking at the background forces that played a part in influencing the couple's life course. In general, chemical dependency is a product of family cutoff. Other important factors are the milieu in which the drinking occurs, the time when drinking becomes important, the reaction of others to the drinking, and what people have tried to do about it. The tape also demonstrates the resources within the family for dealing with this multigenerational phenomenon. 1983.

Chemical Dependency and Systems Thinking: - Part 2
One year later the husband reports on the shifts within himself and in the family. 1984.

Differentiation of Self in Mother-Child Relationships
Kathleen B. Kerr, MSN, MA
In this tape, Mrs. Kerr illustrates how the attachment between mother and child influences the behavior of each. Although it is artificial and inaccurate to separate the mother-child relationship from the contextof the entire family system, this tape focuses on the process in this relationship for teaching purposes. Using vignettes of family therapy sessions conducted by Dr. Bowen, Mrs. Kerr illustrates how a more undifferentiated mother is less able to see her child as separate from her and, consequently, reacts more intensely to the child. The child, in turn, responds to the tone set by the mother, playing his full part in maintaining the resulting balance between attachment and separation. 1987.

Efforts to Set Free an Emotionally Appended Child
Michael E. Kerr, MD
This tape demonstrates how theory guides family psychotherapy. Dr. Kerr presents some basic theoretical ideas then illustrates them with segments of four clinical sessions with a couple that had their psychotic, profoundly dependent daughter living with them. The intense family situation helps the mother better define her own emotional problem and better appreciate her long-standing need for the daughter's companionship and approval. The intensity of this "symbiosis" is the product of a multigenerational process. The mother's ability to act on a more factual view of the family results in more differentiation for herself and allows the daughter's recovery. 1992.