Family Evaluation

by Michael E. Kerr and Murray Bowen

Book Overview

Michael Kerr (who worked with Bowen for many years) and Bowen propose that the enormously complex task of evaluating a clinical family can be orderly when it is grounded in family systems theory.

Using family diagrams and case studies, the book is devoted to an elegant explication of Bowen theory, which analyzes multigenerational family relationships and conceptualizes the family as an emotional unit or as a network of interlocking relationships,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393700569
• ISBN13: 9780393700565
• Release Date: October 1988
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Must Read for Family Therapists

This book explains Bowen's Extended Family Therapy Theory. This is one of the most important family systems theories in the history of family therapy and it is still one of the most widely used theories for working with families. Anyone that is studying family therapy should read this book as it is the seminal work on Bowen Therapy. Essential ideas such as triangling, emotional fusion, and intergenerational transmission are well explained.One of the best things about this book is that it is highly readable. This book can be beneficial to anyone interested in learning more about families. It can be helpful to the lay person as well as to the professional family therapist.

Introduction to natural sytems

A rich introduction to Murray Bowen's natural systems theory. Explains relevance of the theory to clinical work with families, couples, and individuals. Also, briefly explores and contrasts the relationship of Bowen theory to sociobiology, evolutionary neurology, and analytic theory. Case illustrations are clear and helpful. Would recommend to social workers, psychologist, biologists, and those interested in a natural systems approach to human behavior. Although strong on evaluation and descriptions concerning emotional processes in human families and groups, there is less attention to therapy techiques. More of a book about thinking on relationships, than one of the clinical "how to" kind of presentations that have become standard fare in the family therapy field. I have read through Dr. Kerr's text several times and have studied its chapters separately. Each reread reveals additional applications and insights into the theory. Surely, a book that can grow with you! Dr. Bowen's epilogue is an added jem in which he offers perhaps his last written description of the development of the theory and his belief in the relevance of theory to the future. Personally, the book has influenced both my private and professional life.