ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates how Murray Bowen, MD, applied detriangling in his differentiation of self efforts. Bowen not only created a new systems theory of human behavior, but he was the first to apply the clinical application to himself, an effort that would later be described as the therapist’s own family work. It was as Herculean an effort as Freud’s own self-analysis through his interpretation of dreams more than 100 years ago. While Bowen often spoke of having dreamed his systems theory—at least the integration of the concepts into a whole theory—he certainly did not use dream interpretation to understand himself in the context of his family. Rather, he applied his own theory of differentiation of self, with a focus on understanding triangles and interlocking triangles, and then developed a plan to detriangle from the significant interlocking triangles in his own family of origin.
