Bowen/Kerr Interview Series Videotapes

In the following series of videotapes, Dr. Murray Bowen is interviewed by Dr. Michael Kerr, who became the Director of the Family Center at the time of Dr. Bowen's death in October 1990. In the interviews, Dr. Bowen and Dr. Kerr discuss the concepts of family systems theory and therapy. The Bowen-Kerr Interview Series is designed to address those aspects of the theory which people have the most difficulty understanding. For this reason some knowledge of theory is desirable before using these tapes.

Rental fee: $100.00 each per showing.

Purchase price: $200.00 each.

Bowen/Kerr Interview Series Audiotapes and CDs are also available.

Family Systems Theory and Therapy: An Overview
This tape includes such topics as the history of the family movement, the family as an emotional unit, the difference between family systems thinking and individual thinking, and what it means to be a differentiated person. 1979. 50 min.

The Theoretical Base of Family Systems Theory
During the 1940s and 1950s, Dr. Bowen began thinking about ways to make psychiatry into an acceptable science. Toward this long-range goal, he worked on a theory of human functioning that would be consistent with the natural sciences. On this tape, Dr. Bowen discusses the evolution of this thinking during years of research and clinical observation. 1979. 55 min.

Systems Therapy
Dr. Bowen addresses the ways in which the methods of systems therapy have evolved from the theory, emphasizing that a therapist's theoretical perspective determines the way he or she conducts therapy. He also discusses some of thecommon pitfalls clinicians encounter when they begin to do family systems therapy with an individual frame of reference. 1979. 55 min.

Anxiety and Emotional Reactivity in Therapy
This tape focuses on the ways in which anxiety is manifested in a family, how the level of differentiation affects the ability to adapt to acute or chronic stress, and the ways in which a therapist can reduce the anxiety so that the process of differentiation can begin. Dr. Bowen addresses the importance of a therapist's becoming more self-contained within the emotional arena of his or her own family in order to stay out of the emotional process in clinical work. 1979. 60 min.

Defining a Self in One's Family of Origin - Part 1
In this tape Dr. Bowen discusses the development of his ideas about extended family work and some of the common misconceptions that have evolved from these ideas. Dr. Bowen discusses the theoretical principles that guide the effort at trying to be more of a self in one's own family, and the significance of concepts such as triangles, emotional cutoff, and emotional process in a family. 1980. 50 min.

Defining a Self in One's Family of Origin - Part 2
Looking at the practical applications of Bowen theory to extended family work, this tape includes what it means to have a personal relationship with extended family members, what is significant about doing a multigenerational history, and what to do in a family in which parents are dead. Dr. Bowen goes into detail about common mistakes people make in their efforts that not only perpetuate problems in a family, but can actually make them worse. 1980. 52 min.

Obstacles to Systems Thinking
The emotional system and the way in which people are taught produces a certain view of the world. Dr. Bowen's and Dr. Kerr's personal experiences give a clear view of the difficulties encountered in unlearning the conventional psychiatric paradigm. This one-hour videotape conveys Dr. Bowen's effort toward finding a more factual way to think about the human condition. 1980. 55 min.

Family Therapy with Schizophrenia
An overview of the family field from its birth in the early 1950s to the present day is presented. Family research with schizophrenia played a critical role in the development of family theory and therapy. Over time various models were designed to extend the research findings about schizophrenia to all types of family problems. This tape traces the expansion of the concept of differentiation of self and clarifies how change in a family unit begins by lowering the anxiety in the family field. 1980. 55 min.

Background to Systems Thinking and Discipleship
This videotape addresses the complex subject of paradigms and epistemology, including the way in which new knowledge is acquired. The first part of thistape compares two approaches to systems thinking. Dr. Murray Bowen defines a theory based on the natural sciences. Conceptual abstractions of his observations of family patterns led to the definition of his theory. Dr. Albert Scheflen knew general systems theory and approached a broader understanding of schizophrenia by learning all he could about the three paradigms of psychiatry: biology, psychology, and sociology. He then distilled this information to a few essential ideas. The second part of this tape concerns the difficulties of maintaining an open theoretical system. 1980. 54 min.

Emotional Process in Society
This videotape examines the logical conceptual bridge from the emotional processes in families to those in society. The link came from a study of families with delinquent children. From the study, ideas about emotional reactivity are applied to conceptualizations about transgressions against society. Factors that increase societal anxiety and changes in methods of dealing with problems are noted. Similar to family process, societal regression can be dealt with when leaders are calm and observe the overall system. 1981. 54 min.

Towards a Systems Concept of Supernatural Phenomena
This videotape does not answer questions about God or religion. Dr. Bowen begins by discussing some of the factors that may have delayed his thinking about and conceptualizing supernatural phenomena within a systems framework. He talks about the development of his thinking about schizophrenia, cancer, and societal regression and how the ideas of Gregory Bateson and Al Scheflen on Aristotelian thinking influenced him. The sciences have long avoided investigating "supernatural" phenomena because they lacked an adequate frame of reference and that, historically, high levels of emotionality have surrounded the facts relevant to understanding this order of events. 1980. 54 min.

Background Aspects of Differentiation
Dr. Bowen discusses the difficulties of getting beyond polarities in one's thinking. He refers to Barbara McClintock's characterization of "levelers," those who see the broad field, and "sharpeners," those who have gunbarrel vision. He maintains that people can be taught to see from a broader perspective if they work on defining self. He uses the analogy of a sports team to illustrate the importance of being an individual while working as a team. 1984. 57 min.

The Changing World and Family Therapy
Society goes through progressive and regressive cycles similar to those in a family. According to Murray Bowen, society is currently in a regression. Dr. Bowen discusses the history of family theory and psychotherapy and makes some predictions about what the future holds for the mental health professions. Family systems theory describes processes in the family rather than the people involved in those processes. This separates it from other theories of human behavior. 1984. 58 min.

The Best of Family Therapy
Dr. Bowen discusses the basic theoretical concept that working on one's differentiation of self may provide the best way possible in human functioning to communicate effectively with others. Human functioning is at its best when each person is free to verbalize feelings and fantasies to the other without fear that the verbalization will hurt the other. People once close to each other become isolated and communication deteriorates. Working on self enables one to work on communication. 1985. 60 min.

A New Concept of the Midbrain
The function of the midbrain has long been an enigma. The new concept of the midbrain suggests a type of organization that would be fundamentally more similar to the spinal cord than to the brain. Dr. Bowen suggests that the midbrain is an outgrowth of the primitive spinal cord and, as such, presides over the automatic functions of the whole body. The cerebrum surrounding it, a later evolutionary development, allows the potential for conscious control over automatic functioning. 1986. 52 min.

Obstacles to Changing Theory
Dr. Bowen and Dr. Kerr discuss several possible reasons people cannot accept or adapt to new ideas. They explore questions such as: Is there something inherent in humans that predisposes them to treat their own basic assumptions as fact and does not allow them to get beyond subjectivity? How does a human, who is mostly oriented toward immediate relief of anxiety rather than consideration of future consequences, learn to postpone gratification for long-term gains? 1987. 65 min.