ABSTRACT
Intergenerational emotional cutoff occurs on a continuum that reflects the level of difficulty being a self with the other. This chapter illustrates the potential of a qualitative research methodology to link clinical data to theoretical constructs in M. Bowen family systems theory. It explores a brief review of general research findings and contrasts these findings with a Bowen family systems view of child variability within the same family. Within-family variability has also been the focus of research by Conley, a sociologist who applies econometric methods for causal inference of gene–environment interaction effects. Bowen’s theoretical framework emerged from his observations of seven outpatient families and eleven families with an adult schizophrenic member who lived on a research unit at the National Institute of Mental Health with their family member for as long as 3 years. Family projection process is an unconscious adaptive mechanism for managing parental chronic anxiety in the nuclear family.
