Equipotentiality and Equifinality

Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST), provides what any good theory does, namely, a rigorous, tested frame of reference for interpreting observable phenomenon. It offers a language for categorizing objects and naming dynamics, and it explain what was formerly unexplainable. Theories help us move from naive explanations toward more spohisticated and nuanced explications. Because theories identify patterns and establish principles and rules related to phenomenon they can also be handy resources for prediction.

For example, examining one’s multigenerational genogram can reveal patterns in family dynamics. Those pattterns, as simple as a curious practice of naming siblings to complex emotional process issues of alcoholism or illnesses of choice, can explain contemporary family issues, and may serve as predictors of future multigenerational family emotional process dynamics. I’ve noticed, however, that novices in BFST sometimes tend to overly focus on the illlusion of certitude that theories can provide. So much so that the theory often becomes a deterministic rule book for what will happen, rather than an interprative tool for what is happening.

I sometimes use the illustration of the alcoholic family emotional system as a way to highlight the power of emotional family patterns in multigenrational transmission. The illustration involves a young lady who at 18 years of age becomes aware of how hellish life in an alcoholic family was. She determines that she will never experience that way of living again. Yet, at about age 20 she marries an alcoholic, determined to “change” the young man, or believing that it will be different in their relationship despite the knowledge of the situation. It’s not an issue of what she “knows,” but rather, of the power of emotional process and relationships. To oversimplify, the only way she knows how to be in, and experience, a relationship with a male entails alcoholism as a mediator for emotional process.

Whenever I use that illustration in presentations I’ll get one of two responses afterward. Inevitably a young lady will come up and say one of two things. One will say, “You’ve just described me. I grew up in an alcoholic family and against my better judgement I married one.” The other will say, “I grew up in an alcoholic family but I didn’t marry one and no one in my family now drinks.” Those two responses are good illustrations of two dynamics that are helpful to keep in mind: equipotentiality and equifinality.

Here is a simple definition for each of these terms:

• Equifinality: When things with dissimilar origins can wind up in similar situations (e.g., an abuse survivor and someone from a healthy family can both grow up to be good parents)
• Equipotentiality: When things with a common origin can go in very different directions of development (e.g., of two abuse survivors, one heals and the other becomes a criminal).

For many novices BFST strikes them as too deterministic. While the theory provides a sobering respect for the power of multigenerational transmission in emotional process, on the pragmatic side it also has as a “goal” movement toward the capacity to be self-differentiated. That focus on become a more mature self who is the agent of intent for one’s life is a message of hope that mitigates naive determinism.