Fall 2017 Conference: Differentiation of Self
Download the Conference Videotape Today!
"The differentiation of a self does not take place in a vacuum. It involves the definition of self in relation to other selfs about important life issues important to self." - Murray Bowen, FTCP, p. 224
Course content and objectives:
- Clinicians who want to expand their perspective on how work based in differentiation of self is a resource for dealing with symptoms that impact health and reproduction as well as problems with marriage and raising children.
- Individuals who are using therapy to bring about changes in their own life and family.
The program will address the following questions:
This conference is for:
- How do physiological reactions (stress, anxiety) in one person reflect patterns of reacting, such as distance or conflict, in the family?
- What is different at higher or lower levels of Differentiation of self?
- How can people use knowledge about physical reactions to better manage anxiety?
- What are the differences between a focus on “being calm” and becoming more thoughtful?
- What are the differences between working on differentiation of self and working on a particular type of relationship?
Conference Presenter: Victoria Harrison, MA, LMFT
Director, Center for the Study of Natural Systems and the Family, Houston, TX Faculty, Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, DC
Ms. Harrison began study with Murray Bowen and the faculty at Georgetown Family Center in 1976 where she also used biofeedback instruments to look at physiological reactions to relationships and stress. After moving back to Texas in 1991, Ms. Harrison established the Center for the Study of Natural Systems and the Family in Houston. (www.csnsf.org) She has commuted to DC since 1992 to serve as faculty for The Bowen Center where she directed the Postgraduate Training Program and launched the Online Introduction to Bowen Theory and Practice.
Ms. Harrison has a private practice in family systems psychotherapy using biofeedback and neurofeedback for self-regulation of anxiety in Houston. Her research and clinical focus are with symptoms that impact health and reproduction. She received the Caskie Research Award
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Her list of articles and book chapters include “A Wider Lens: Bowen Theory and A Natural Systems View of Symptoms”; “Emotional Reactivity, Fusion, and Differentiation of Self in Family Physiology: Clinical Case Research” and “Emotional Systems and Regulation of Reproduction with Ovulation as an Illustration.”
This one day program will discuss ways that Bowen theory guides work on differentiation of self that brings about changes in symptoms and functioning for the person and the family. Victoria Harrison will draw upon Murray Bowen’s observations about the family as an emotional system that governs the physiology, brains, relationship patterns and functioning of individuals. She will discuss evidence from science and her own research that can be used to better understand symptoms and stability as a reflection of anxiety in the family and differentiation of self.
Examples from her own family and from clinical practice will illustrate the benefits of using Bowen theory as a framework and how knowledge about physiological reactions can be employed, with and without using biofeedback and neurofeedback as part of the process.
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Clip Breakdown:
Clips 1 & 2
Bowen Theory And Differentiation Of Self As The Basis For Change
In this talk, presenter Victoria Harrison, MA, LMFT, introduces the program for the day. She goes on to describe concepts from Bowen theory and explains some of the ways Bowen theory is different from other approaches.
Bowen theory applies to behavior, psychology and human biology. Keep concepts include, anxiety, Differentiation of Self, and emotional fusion. To illustrate how Bowen theory can be applied on a societal level, she describes how her hometown of Houston, TX, was impacted by Hurricane Harvey, saying, “Houston was an example of totally unorganized local effective action…it was a true system in action.”
Key Quotes:
“Bowen theory and Neuroptimal® (neurofeedback) would recognize that each brain is going to respond and react to events and experience based on its own particular multigenerational history and the family its part of.”
“The therapist’s theoretical assumptions would guide the understanding of symptoms and the approach to change.”
“No one comes to Bowen theory as a Tabula Rasa.”
“Anxiety levels and Differentiation of Self are the two main variables in symptom development and factors for change.”
“Anybody can do it if more motivated to do for self than depending on another.”
Clips 3 & 4
Emotional Reactivity, Anxiety And Differentiation Of Self With Tools And Exercises For Observing & Managing Reactivity/anxiety
In this talk, presenter Victoria Harrison, MA, LMFT, begins by introducing the clinical video “which will demonstrate use of neurofeedback equipment to monitor and modify physiological reactivity.” (Due to client confidentiality, the clinical video is not shown.)
After the presentation and audience questions, Victoria Harrison explains the importance of “moving beyond the family relationships which may be very familiar but uncomfortable relationships, to making contact with aunts, uncles, cousins that they are not in contact with.”
Key Quotes:
“Making one to one contact, making visits by yourself, for yourself, with as many different family members as possible, is the arena in which someone develops the ability to be more observant, more responsible for themselves.”
“Life is full of negative reactivity. Where are you going to get practice at it?”
“Emotional fusion is human. It’s the ability to be a separate self that is also human. But we vary greatly in that.”
Clips 5 & 6
Emotional Reactivity, Anxiety And Differentiation Of Self With Tools And Exercises For Observing & Managing Reactivity/anxiety
In this talk, presenter Victoria Harrison, MA, LMFT, defines and describes the concepts that are central to thinking about the variation in human functioning and differentiation of self.
Victoria Harrison explains in detail the concept of emotional reactivity. She describes different contributions scientists have made to the understanding of anxiety and reactivity as well as Murray Bowen’s observation of the five mechanisms that any relationship system employs to manage the reactivity stirred between the demands of the relationships and the demands of being an individual.
Key Quotes:
“Reactivity includes all of the responses of life to relationships and to the natural environment.”
“Reactivity allocate resources to survival, to adaptation, and to reproduction.”
“The human is a family animal.”
“If the relationship system is anxious and we register that as our own we go into fight, flight, befriend or freeze, be quiet, play dead.”
“The first line of response to anxiety in the human is social. We check faces.”
“We are reacting to or for or with each other all the time in a way that stabilizes the system. With anxiety however, that anxiety will be at the expense of someone.”
“When the non-symptomatic family member begins to observe and manage her reactivity-or his-the symptoms in the symptomatic person will also improve.”
“Bowen’s separate is in the midst of connected.”
“People can learn to observe and monitor their levels of reactivity.”
Clips 7 & 8
Steps Toward Differentiation Of Self: What People Do In Therapy Based In Bowen Theory
In this talk, Presenter Victoria Harrison describes some of what people actually do in their work on Differentiation of Self. She also discusses some of the major misconceptions about Bowen theory and what it means to work on differentiation in one’s own family.
Key Quotes:
“Taking a position than responsible for herself instead of focused on taking care of her mother or her father or her husband-that step is going to stir reactions from within her and within the system. And those reactions are not applause.”
“Stay steady and stay in contact.”
“It isn’t the differentiation that creates the distance.”
“Anyone begins a differentiating effort in the face of great anxiety.”
“Small steps are the best steps.”
“The goal is to make a research project out of life.” - Bowen, Murray, Family Therapy in Clinical Practice, p. 179
Download The Conference!
- Parking on site available for $10.00/vehicle.
- Limited number of partial scholarships available. Contact Lorna for details.
- There are no activities included that are not offered for continuing education credit.
- Contact Lorna for instructions regarding accommodations for disability. The program facility is ADA compliant.
Refund / Cancellation Policy:
Full refund less credit card fees will be applied through Friday, September 8, 2017. After that, contact Lorna directly
Please address any grievances to:
Lorna Hecht-Zablow, MFT
lornahechtmft@gmail.com
(619) 838-4551
591 Camino De La Reina, Suite 918
San Diego, CA 92108
Provider: Lorna Hecht, MFT, MFC35604, CEPA #035339. Clinical member of AAMFT and CAMFT.