The Special Topics Interview Series

Rental fee: $100.00 each per showing.

Purchase price: $200.00 each.

Issues in Aging from a Family Theory and Therapy Perspective
Kathleen B. Kerr, MSN, MA
This lecture tape presents the concepts from Bowen family systems theory most applicable to understanding issues in aging. It particularly focuses on anxiety, level of differentiation and emotional cutoff, and their importance in the aging process. It is recommended for those unfamiliar with family systems theory in conjunction with any of the clinical tapes on aging. 1979. 60 min.

The Lawyer and the Mental Health Expert in the Courtroom
This videotape is a simulation of a child custody litigation which involves the examination of a psychiatrist as an expert witness. This mock trial focuses on three primary areas: 1) establishing qualifications of the mental health professional; 2) establishing the procedures and techniques used by the mental health professional; 3) establishing the mental health professional's opinion and the basis for it. The tape illustrates how an expert witness is interviewed and forms an opinion regarding child custody. Although the tape deals primarily with the interface between the legal and mental health professions in a child custody case, it has implications for assessing this relationship in the broader context of other legal issues. 1980. 60 min.

Walter Toman and Murray Bowen on Sibling Position - Part 1
Dr. Toman is one of the first researchers to study the significance of sibling position on personality development. This videotape examines the background that led to Dr. Toman's interest in this area and the use of the rules of combination he devised to structure the facts of the family context. Dr. Bowen discusses other factors which can influence relationship patterns and aid people in adjusting to defects in their early experiences. The overall view is that each sibling position has its advantages and disadvantages. 1980. 60 min.

Walter Toman and Murray Bowen on Sibling Position - Part 2
Produced in conjunction with the Family Center's Conference on Family Evaluation and Diagnosis, Dr. Toman's efforts to define sibling profiles serves as a stepping stone for a broader discussion of how to make human behavior a science. Dr. Toman mentions the proliferation of therapies today and his concern about what he perceives as a change from the psychotherapeutic attitude of benevolence that was the hallmark of classical psychotherapy. Dr. Bowen adds his view that many of these therapies are based on the therapist's individual perceptions of human nature or on the personality of the originator rather than on observable facts of human behavior. Toman's work on sibling position systematically ordered information about siblings that could be observed. 1982. 60 min.

Walter Toman and Murray Bowen on Sibling Position - Part 3
Dr. Bowen and Dr. Toman both defined bodies of knowledge that are unique in their approach to the understanding of human functioning. Both are grounded in a systems approach to thinking. In this videotape they discuss their fields of endeavor in terms of their own views of systems thinking. Dr. Toman makes the point that sibling position determines basic characteristics only in a very broad way. It is necessary also to study family interaction from a systems perspective in order to understand individual functioning. Dr. Bowen discusses the conversion of pure subjectivity into functional fact and concludes that the way to movetoward a factual way of thinking is to improve one's own functioning. 1984. 60 min.

Paul MacLean and Murray Bowen
Dr. Bowen had been a clinical investigator while Dr. MacLean was a basic researcher. This videotape elaborates the route each took to investigate evolutionary process. Dr. MacLean developed the evidence for the triune brain. He thought that survival was not of the fittest but of those who could make the most of nature's inventions. Dr. Bowen noted that each generation changes a little but it is difficult for humans to think of evolutionary time. Maternal behavior, audiovocal communication, and play appeared about one hundred and eighty million years ago. They discuss the discipline of science and how the human is part of nature. Produced in conjunction with the Twentieth Annual Symposium on Family Psychotherapy. 1983. 60 min.

Fusion and Physiology
Priscilla Friesen, LCSW
Ms. Friesen discusses her thinking about Dr. Bowen's concept of psychological fusion, whereby sensitivity is programmed into the physiological systems of the body through the process of early life experience. Dr. Bowen sees this process as part of an evolutionary one in which the brain, as a later evolutionary development, became a mechanism capable of modifying automatic reactivity. Using biofeedback, Ms. Friesen has observed patterns which suggest a continuum of physiological response from a constant state of arousal to the ability to discriminate and to choose not to overreact to the environment. 1988. 60 min.

Extended Family and Emotional Cutoff
Daniel V. Papero, PhD, LCSW and Kathleen B. Kerr, MSN, MA
Dr. Papero and Mrs. Kerr address some of the common misperceptions about this process of defining a self in the extended family. In particular they discuss such an effort when differentiation is the guiding principle. Dr. Papero highlights the importance of chronic anxiety. In the second portion of the tape they discuss the concept of cutoff and its integral relationship to the emotional system, differentiation of self, and anxiety. Mrs. Kerr talks about her study of cutoff in older persons and the way that led her to the relationship between cutoff and differentiation of self. Both discuss the subtleties of the process of cutoff and its effects. 1992. 60 min.