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Research at the Georgetown Family Center
There are many different ways of thinking about research. George C. Williams defined scientific inquiry as “any combination of theoretical thinking, intuition, and empiricism that suits the investigator.” Linus Pauling spoke of theoretical research as “thinking about the problem until you think of something new that is pertinent to it.” Albert Szent-Gyorgyi said that “discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen, and thinking what nobody has thought.” Drew Rendall, PhD believed that “most of what are called discoveries already exist really, in dots of different disciplines, that just need to be glimpsed by a single pair of eyes in order to be connected. You’re never going to do anything other than create a dot or two with your own work if you don’t step back to allow the broader patterns to pop-out.”These definitions reflect a broader view of research than the traditional empirical study. Research begins with a question or hypothesis. The researcher develops a methodology and protocol and then systematically collects data and analyses it. In this way, disciplined clinical research or library research on the work of others qualifies as research. Research is key to the academic vitality of the Bowen Center. Murray Bowen developed Bowen theory through formal and informal clinical research. Important principles guiding the original research remain crucial for Bowen theory research today: Bowen observed that there is a difference between what people say they do and what they actually do. Since he aimed toward a science of human behavior he wanted to know what people really do. In his original study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), eleven families lived on the research unit up to three years. Seven additional families were seen as outpatients. The participating families were observed 24 hours a day and their entire behavior recorded. New observations were possible using this approach. An example is the relationship between emotional process in the research families and their use of medical resources on the unit.* This focus on what people actually do continues to inform research guided by Bowen theory today. It is unlikely that people will accurately report their behavior in a questionnaire. Questionnaires attempting to assess level of differentiation of self are especially unreliable. Family systems researchers work to collect data on actual behavior rather than relying on subjective reports. For example, the Family History Database Project approaches the challenge of measuring differentiation by using factual historical data on functioning over a lifetime to approximate level of differentiation. The unit of study is the family system. Once the research view shifts from the individual to the family, the scene looks entirely different and research doesn’t employ cause-effect linear models. This makes research from a systems perspective somewhat complex. If a person does clinical outcome research and only measures the presence or absence of a symptom in one family member, the systems view has been lost. Multiple variables affect the system. Researchers guided by systems thinking holds multiple variables and their interactions with each other, simultaneously in their thinking. * Dysinger, Robert H. And Murray Bowen. 1978. “Problems of Medical Practice Presented by Families With a Schizophrenic Member” in Family Therapy in Clinical Practice. New York: Jason Aronson. Current Research Projects
Laura Brooks lbrookslcswc@comcast.net Priscilla J. Friesen
pjfries@yahoo.com Research Analysis
Mignonette N. Keller mnkeller15@aol.com Chimpanzees
Kathleen Kerr research@thebowencenter.org
Michael E. Kerr mekerr@thebowencenter.org Keo Miller keom@verizon.net Catherine Rakow cmr1227@hughes.net Louise Rauseo rauseo1@verizon.net Harrison, Victoria. 1997. “Family Emotional Process, Reactivity, and Patterns of Ovulation.” Family Systems 4(1): 49-62.
Harrison, Victoria. "Patterns of Ovulation, Reactivity, and Family Emotional Process," Annals of the New York Academy of the Sciences, vol. 807, The Integrative Neurobiology of Affiliation, 1997, pp.522-524. Health
Harrison, Victoria. "Stress Reactivity and Family Relationships in the Development and Treatment of Endometriosis" April 2005. Fertility and Sterility Vol. 83. No. 4, 857-864.
Harrison, Victoria, "Prayer, Reactivity and Differentiation of Self" Chapter 8 in The
Cornerstone Concept by Roberta Gilbert. 2008. Victoria Harrison vaharrison@sbcglobal.net Previous Research Projects Kerr, Kathleen B. 1984. “Issues in Aging...From a Family Theory Perspective” in The Family: Compendium II The Best of The Family 1978-1983. Eileen Pendagast, ed. Rye Brook, NY: The Center for Family Learning. (out of print). kbkerr@thebowencenter.org.
Maloney-Schara, Andrea. 1990. “Biofeedback and Family Systems Psychotherapy in the Treatment of HIV Infection.” Biofeedback and Self Regulation 15(1): 70-71. arms711@aol.com.
A project of the 1960s where individuals observed multiple family therapy sessions and devised measures of change. See Rosenbaum, Lilian. 1971. “The Qualified Pronoun Count as a Measure of Change in Family Psychotherapy.” Family Process 10(2): 243-247. New York, NY: Ackerman Institute.
McKnight, Anne S. 2003. "The Impact of Cutoff in Families Raising Adolescents" in Emotional Cutoff: Bowen Family Systems Perspectives. Peter Titelman, ed. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press. amcknight1@comcast.net
Kathleen B. Kerr kbkerr@thebowencenter.org Keller, Mignonette N. 2006. “A Case Study: Differentiation of Self Among Slaves and Their Descendants.” Family Systems 7(2):103-121. Roberta B. Holt - Please contact Ruth Riley Sagar rrsagar@thebowencenter.org Douglas Murphy fhsdm@aol.com Gilbert, Roberta M. 1994. “Addiction to Prescribed Medications.” Family Systems 1(1): 57-66. Myer, Patricia H.1991. “An Outcome Study.” AFTA Newsletter. Reported by Joan Winter and Chris Bjornsen. (Summer issue): 33-34. Perspective Rosenbaum, Lilian. “Biofeedback Assisted Relaxation in Diabetes Management.” Paper presented at the 12th annual meeting of the Biofeedback Society of America, Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 13-17, 1981. Kerr, Michael E. 1998. “Bowen Theory and Evolutionary Theory.” Family Systems 4(2):119-179. mekerr@thebowencenter.org Perspective Joan Jurkowski, "Heroin Addicts, Family, and Recovery: A Pilot Study", Family Systems, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 45-66. joanjurkowski@comcast.net Examining emotional process in society using Bowen Theory
Patricia Comella pacomella@aol.com
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