The Concept of the Triangle in Bowen Theory: An Overview

This chapter provides a historical and theoretical overview of the concept of the triangle in Bowen family systems theory. The chapter is divided into six sections. Following this introduction, the second section describes Bowen’s movement from psychoanalytic to systems theory: from the individual, to the dyad, to the triangle. The third section defines and describes in detail the concept of the triangle in the context of Bowen theory. The fourth section describes the relationship between the concept of the triangle and other concepts in Bowen theory. The fifth section deals with the process and application of detriangling. The last section is the summary of the chapter.