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Differentiation of Self: Past and Present

What has been the difficulty of incorporating the ideas from biofeedback and neurofeedback into Bowen's concept of differentiation of self? To address this question, Priscilla Friesen stepped back to look at the history of the development of the idea of differentiation of self beginning at Menninger then NIMH.

Before the present technological access to other levels of the systems of physiology and brain, Dr. Bowen talked about differentiation of self as a “psychological theory that postulated the human as a biological being.” This presentation suggests that this psychological formulation has limited the ability to see the contribution of biofeedback and neurofeedback fields (which have come out of increases in technology) to the "biology" part of the human as a system.

The recording was made at the Thursday Professional Meeting, Bowen Center on April 10, 2013.

Differentiation of Self, 30 mins, (mp3 file)

Differentiation of Self, powerpoint (.pdf file)
 

Filed under Bowen family systems theory, Neurofeedback, Brain and physiology