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Questions marked with an asterisk (*) have been borrowed or adapted with permission from Exercises in Family Therapy, by Montserrat Casado, Mark E. Young, and Scott D. Rasmus. Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.

This activity contains 4 questions.

* Think about the goal of differentiation that is a hallmark of psychological health in Bowenian and psychodynamic therapy. Thinking back on your own life, identify some times that you were able to consciously and rationally separate yourself from your family expectations and demands, doing what you thought was best rather than merely rebelling. Is this a good definition of mental health?

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* According to Gladding, a psychodynamic therapist may try to engage the family in transference and allow them to vent their feelings about the situation, create opportunities to confront family members' present behaviors, and examine cultural and unique family/individual patterns related to the presenting problem. How does this model fit your personal philosophy about counseling families? Is it a place for ventilation? Is honesty always beneficial?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

* What reactions do you have to the idea of "differentiation" of self/family and intellect/emotion that Bowen promotes in his theory? For example, is it possible for a person to be mentally healthy and still be mainly attached to his or her family of origin as an adult? In Western culture, we do not normally see such an arrangement as healthy while much of the world sees this as desirable. What are your views on this subject?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

* Bowenian therapists heavily emphasize family history and the importance of understanding past patterns as a way to change behaviors in present relationships. Do you agree? How do you see this fitting in with the reality that clients may only come to you for a limited number of sessions?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

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