Presentation of the Views of Bowen, Essay Example

Pilar, this is a very interesting and informative presentation of the views of Bowen! It’s interesting to read of a theorist who played such an important role in actually developing distinct theory for family therapy. I find this an absolutely fascinating theory, too, with its focus on the family system, rather than any one individual. It sounds like Bowen was a very original and very perceptive therapist!

I chose Milton Erickson, who it sounds like was about as different from Bowen as possible. Erickson was an anti-theorist: he didn’t believe in using theory at all. Instead, he was extremely pragmatic, and made use of a number of rather colorful, astonishing, and controversial techniques involving, or else based on, hypnotherapy. With Erickson, the focus was always on figuring out what it took to help the patient—and this typically came down to helping the patient figure out what resources they could use to overcome their problem, although Erickson went about things in very, very unconventional ways!

Also, good discussion of the AAMFT and the IAMFT! I like your analysis of the NCLB, it sounds like a very excellent initiative. I found out that the AAMFT has something called the AAMFT Research and Education Foundation, which is an important initiative for promoting excellence in marriage and family therapy, as well as family policy and family science. And as regards the IAMFT, great job finding the Mental Health in Schools Act! That sounds like a much needed initiative as well. The multicultural aspect—good find, that’s certainly very important to their work, given the overall importance of culture. I focused on their specializations, of which there are a great many. They also have a Family Journal, did you know that? They do: the publication has regular sections devoted to covering all manner of specializations. At any rate, they’re both certainly wonderful organizations doing wonderful work to help people, work that I personally find very inspiring.