Oral History Project
Listen as Bowen scholars and clinical specialists talk about their relationships with Dr. Bowen and their own work.
In this interview, Doug Murphy discusses his attraction to Bowen theory from the outset and the ways in which it helped him think about the cutoff he had with his father. Bowen theory offered very productive yet counterintuitive ways of addressing cutoff that he found intriguing, and which were quite different from conventional psychiatry.
He also talks about his initial fear of Dr. Bowen and the ways in which Dr. Bowen broke that barrier down, including by cursing “like a drunken sailor” through their hour-long consultation together. Mr. Murphy and Andrea discuss the ways in which Dr. Bowen would seek to wake people up, “smack” them, or snap them out of their usual behaviors. They discuss the fantastic trickery he would use to put the responsibility back on others for the way they are without shaming or blaming them but helping to illuminate who they are.
Dr. Anne McKnight, the Director Emeritus and the third director of the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family, begins by telling us how she began her career as a part-time social worker at an alcohol treatment center. She began seeing families there in the mid-1970s. AA was more for individuals, whereas Al-Anon was a family-oriented organization. Her work with Al-Anon sparked her interest in family focused treatment strategies. Around 1975, she went to a workshop on families at the National Council of Alcoholism. Dr. Bowen was on a panel and she asked, “Dr. Bowen, what do you do with families with alcoholism?” He used his hands to signal this was a long-term problem. Curious about what he meant, she found her way into the training program at the Bowen Center about a year later.
In this interview, Mr. Giove talks about how he came to be introduced to Bowen Family Systems Theory and Dr. Bowen himself. He also discusses his experiences in the postgraduate program, medical and clinical conferences, and the complexities and variables involved in practicing theory.
While doing research for his dissertation, Dr. Wendel Ray came across correspondence between Dr. Murray Bowen and Dr. Don Jackson, both of whom were interested in a theory of human behavior. In one letter, Jackson responds to Bowen’s work with, “hey, you’ve got a theory here.” Throughout the interview Dr. Ray recalls that first conversation, what he learned from him and what of Dr. Bowen’s work he has taught to his own students, saying: “I love the way this man unpacks the reasoning behind his suggestions for what a therapist should do in working with a person, it’s so consistent with his theory.”
Ms. Bunting recounts her introduction to Bowen Family Systems Theory and Dr. Bowen himself. She describes the shift in her own thinking and the wide reaching applications of that shift, the growth that came from that shift and her work to share Bowen theory and its applications with others.
Dr. Peter Titelman recounts his early career and introduction to Dr. Bowen’s articles and ideas starting in the early 1970s, which led him to attend the symposiums at Georgetown. Dr. Titelman’s colleague, Paulina McCullough, introduced him to Dr. Bowen at one of these symposiums, sparking the dialogue and ongoing intellectual debate that the two carried on for years. In this interview, Dr. Titelman discusses their relationship, the ways in which they challenged each other, and the disagreements the two of them had over issues of subjectivity and objectivity in their work.
In this interview, Steve Wiseman describes his introduction to Dr. Murray Bowen and exposure to his theory. He talks about not only his initial experience and thoughts around theory, as well as how that thinking has changed over the years. He also reflects on Dr. Bowen’s focus on process and the impact theory has had on his professional life.