Female Legacies: Intergenerational Themes and Their Treatment for Women in Alcoholic Families

Alcoholism poses special dilemmas for women. This paper reviews some of the gender-linked effects of alcoholic behavior in families by tracing the experiences of the women in one alcoholic family through three generations. The case study focuses specifically on patterns of over- and underresponsible functioning in these women as the dominant clinical issue and outlines the ways in which a Bowen systems approach can effectively reverse dysfunctional patterns.