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| Bowen's term for psychological separation of intellect and emotions and independence of self from others; opposite of fusion. |
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| Inclusion of a third party as a result of anxiety/conflict in a dyadic relationship. Most family problems are triangular. |
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| the underlying factor in the genesis os psychological problems; based on anxious attachment, which may be manifest either as dependency or isolation. Passed down from one generation to the next. |
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| Bowen's term for flight from an unresolved emotional attachment. |
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| A schematic diagram of the family system, using squares to represent males, circles to indicate females, horizontal lines for marriages, and vertical lines to indicate children. |
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| the process by which individuals remove themselves from the emotional field of two others. |
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| The functional organization of families that determines how family members interact. |
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| Family (projection) process |
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| In Bowenian theory, the mechanism by which parental conflicts are projected onto the children or a spouse. |
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| The Bowenian alternative to the more emotionally involved role common to other forms of therapy. It means asking questions designed to help people figure out family emotional processes and their role in them. |
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| questions that highlight differences among family members. |
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| a descriptive term for redundant behavioral patterns. |
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| temporary or superficial changes within a system that do not alter the basic organization of the system itself. |
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| basic change in the structure and functioning of a system. |
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| relabeling a family's description of behavior to make it more amenable to therapeutic change; for example, describing someone as "lazy" rather than "depressed." |
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| Family hierarchical structure |
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Definition
Family functioning based on
clear generational boundaries, where the parents maintain control and authority. |
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Definition
| homework assignments designed to help families interrupt homeostatic patterns of problem-maintaining behavior. |
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Definition
| Selvini Palazzoli's technique of ascribing positive motives to family behavior in order to promote family cohesion and avoid resistance to therapy. |
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| in strategic therapy, a set of prescribed actions designed to change a family system's rules. |
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| a technique developed by Mara Selvini Palazzoli in which parents are directed to mysteriously sneak away together. |
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