Family and Self

Robert J. Noone is faculty at the Center for Family Consultation and the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family.

Noone has worked within three successive theoretical perspectives. In psychiatric hospital settings, he observed that patients lived in hospital for most of their lives, had little contact with family, and rarely showed evidence of relief from symptoms. Following passage of the Mental Health Act in 1963, a nationwide effort kept the mentally ill in their communities and out of hospitals. Patients lived with their families, and therapists treated whole families. This treatment lasted up to six sessions, after which a family was referred to a family health center. The program was found to be effective. The third and final theoretical shift was led by psychiatrist and researcher Murray Bowen, who articulated Family Systems Theory, representing a radical departure from the individualistic paradigm predominant in psychiatry and family therapy until that time. Following Bowen's model in this book, Noone examines the family as a natural unit that shapes the differential capacity of members to adapt effectively to life's many challenges. The helpful index combines topic and author entries. This is essential theoretical and clinical material for practicing psychotherapists and those in training, whether in psychiatry, psychology, or social work. Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.

• Chapter 1: Family and Adaptive CapacityChapter 2: Toward Emotional ObjectivityChapter 3: The Brain and Self-RegulationChapter 4: The Family as an Adaptive SystemChapter 5: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Family and the BrainChapter 6: The Impact of Stress on the Family and Adaptive CapacityChapter 7: Family and the Multigenerational ProcessChapter 8: Emotional Cutoff and the Establishment of a Self in Each GenerationChapter 9: A Systems Theory of the FamilyChapter 10: Family as a Pathway toward Enhanced Adaptive Capacity