ABSTRACT
Important goals were little interference by the staff and close observation and documentation of the dyads. This chapter discusses the various research methodologies utilized during the phases of the project. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Family Study Project remains relevant today to family systems theory and family psychotherapy. Joanne Bowen’s research at NIMH began as a study of psychological symbiosis with mother–daughter dyads. An initial question in the research concerned whether these mother–daughter dyads could reside full-time on a specialized research unit. Psychological symbiosis describes a process of intense emotional interdependence between family members. Sociograms were used daily to record the behavioral interactions during the daily staff–family groups. The social workers made their own daily notes. It was the clinical social workers who saw the mothers individually during the first year of the project and found that, in the privacy of the meetings, a different depth of content appeared that balanced the nurses’ observations.
