ARTICLES
A Three-Step Process for Achieving Increased Compliance In Younger Children: Thinking, Observing, and Managing Self
by Erik Thompson, MA
Heartfelt compliance with responsible requests is prized by parents. Non-compliance with simple requests such as "Please hang up your coat" is often associated with power struggles, frustration, and disquiet in the home. This article considers the idea that children are weakened by a pattern of non-compliance, and presents some thoughts on how to gain ground in this area, illustrated by my own life as a parent of young children. I believe that with a few modifications these steps apply to teens, couples, and workplace relations as well.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Understood Betsy and Murray Bowen's "Child Projection Process" By Erik Thompson, MA
The classic 1917 children's novel, Understood Betsy, by Vermont author Dorothy Canfield Fisher is a graceful portrait of Bowen's Family Projection Process. We are shown a child in two contrasting settings: one that illustrates what Bowen called child focus and one that illustrates what he called a well-differentiated family unit. A differentiated family is relatively free of anxious child focus, promoting emotional maturity in the child. This article summarizes the story and tells how the story illustrates theory.
Full Text Article: Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Understood Betsy and Murray Bowen's
The Emigrant Family: O.E. Rolvaag And Bowen Family Systems Theory
by Erik Thompson, MA
This paper discusses the Rolvaag's famous immigrant trilogy in the light of six aspects of Bowen Theory; Anxiety, Overfunctioning/Underfunctioning Reciprocity, Cutoff, Togetherness, Differentiation, and Triangles.
Full Text Article: The Emigrant Family: Rolvaag and Bowen Family System's Theory