Concept 3:
Nuclear Family Emotional Process
Depending on their level of differentiation, partners use some combination of the following ways to manage overly tense dynamics between them: emotional distance, conflict, sickness or dysfunction (social emotional or physical) in one spouse, and projection of problems onto the child(ren) (Bowen, 1978).
Bowen’s third theoretical concept, the nuclear family emotional system, describes families’ patterns of emotional functioning within one generation, led by the dynamics between the spouses.
Depending on their level of differentiation, partners use some combination of the following ways to manage overly tense dynamics between them: emotional distance, conflict, sickness or dysfunction (social emotional or physical) in one spouse, and projection of problems onto the child(ren) (Bowen, 1978).