What is it about?
Separation anxiety has been viewed through different psychological lenses either as a phenomenon that exists within the individual or between mother and child. This paper is a personal account of my own family of origin investigation into separation anxiety in my childhood and how through this process I transitioned from an individualist and dyadic lens, to a 'systems' lens.
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Why is it important?
Family of origin work leads to the understanding that a symtpom, in my case separation anxiety emerges not from stressful events but in response to them. How one responds to separations is effected by a multitude of factors. Dr Murray Bowen observed that his trainees, who worked to research and understand their multigenerational family, made more progress in managing themselves in their clinical work than did trainees who attended regular psychotherapy. The work of differentiating a self is done in the family of origin not in the transferential work with a therapist.
Perspectives
Prior to undertaking family research, my tendency had been to focus on the impairment of my functioning due to the challenges of separation. However, I came away from family of origin work with a systems view of the complexity of my family emotional system and the understanding that one’s functioning is affected by the functioning of each family member, the degree of chronic anxiety, differentiation, and the number of life events that affect the larger system equilibrium.
Ms Martina Palombi
The Family Systems Institute
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Separations: A Personal Account of Bowen Family Systems Theory, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, September 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/anzf.1170.
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