In a nutshell standing on one leg

A story is told about novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, who, was once asked if she could summarize her philosophy of Objectivism while standing on one leg. She did, and her succinct statement of her philosophy in a nutshell is oft-quoted. Theories are complex, abstract, interlocking, and multifaceted by nature so it’s a challenge to make them accessible by putting them “in a nutshell.” And some might argue against the attempt to do so lest one run the risk of stripping from any theory its beauty and nuances. One danger here is that a lack of appreciation for nuance often is a short road the misunderstanding and ideological rigidity.

Someone recently asked me to explain Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) “in a nutshell.” He had struck me as an impatient learner, the kind of student who tends to want the insight without paying the price of the hard work of thinking or the inconvenience of the process of learning. I balked at giving him an easy answer to something that, as we tell people often, takes years to “get.” But I have to admit that at the moment I doubt I could have stood on one leg and given him an answer anyway.

Since then I have thought about what BFST in a nutshell might look like. In terms of theory, BFTS can be answered in a nutshell by listing the eight interlocking concepts:

1. Triangles
2. Differentiation of Self
3. Nuclear Family Emotional System
4. Family Projection Process
5. Multigenerational Transmission Process
6. Emotional Cutoff
7. Sibling Position
8. Societal Emotional Process.

At the risk of being over simplistic, here’s one attempt at identifying the pragmatic component of the theory (“But what do I do with this?”). I confess that for a nutshell I’ve had to use a metaphorical coconut to fit it all in.

First, there are three main therapeutic interventions: (1) work on your genogram, meaning, do your family of origin work; (2) commit to differentiation work—working on your maturity, being your own self, clarifying your principles and values, working on your relationships, etc., and, (3) detriangulation in anxious relationships.

But there are several other basic interlocking functional behaviors involved in those three:

• Changing your functioning and interactions when appropriate (for example, shifting from overfunctioning)
• Monitoring and managing your own anxiety
• Work at healing cutoffs
• Taking responsibility for your own well-being and goals
• Distinguishing thinking from feeling (work on your reactivity)
• Pay attention to intergenerational dynamics at work in your family or context.

Well, I guess it takes a big nut and a lot of balance to get BFST in a nutshell while standing on one leg.