Journal 16.2 - The Back Story on Developing the Concept of Differentiation: Rakow (PDF)

Volume 16, Number 2

The Back Story on Developing the Concept of Differentiation, As Seen in the Murray Bowen Archives Catherine M. Rakow, MSW 

This article describes Dr. Murray Bowen’s original research from which the concept of differentiation of self emerged. Bowen’s extension of the concept ultimately developed into the science of human behavior now known as Bowen theory. The descriptions here are taken from materials in the Bowen archives at the National Library of Medicine and from the Bowen family materials in Williamsburg, Virginia. Late in his life, when Bowen was drafting his 1988 epilogue “An Odyssey Toward Science” for the book Family Evaluation, he did a thorough review of the earliest periods of the development of his theory. These notes, along with his papers going back fifty years, are now in the archival collection at the National Library of Medicine. Bowen’s review, coupled with the actual works from that time, offers a solid opportunity to document his path toward a theory that would extend Freudian theory to integrate more closely with breakthroughs in other sciences. While he maintained a respect for Freud’s efforts, when the data supported an alternative theory, Bowen went with the data. This article describes this process, especially with regard to the origin of his concept of differentiation of self, and illuminates the value of the Bowen archives for understanding how the theory originated.1 

Keywords: anaclitic, differentiation, emotional system, families, Freudian theory, human behavior, Menninger, regression method, research approach, residency, theory development, transference