Dwan conducts individual, couple, group, and family therapy. She uses a variety of therapeutic methods including Bowen family therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and expressive arts (e.g., writing, visual art and music).
It’s important to face the challenges of life head-on, but with the right tools and resources in your arsenal. That all starts with a healthy mind, and a fresh perspective. From there, focusing on your well-being, mental and emotional health, and physical wellness comes into play like never before. You’re taking the first steps on a journey, but you’re not taking them alone.
Dwan’s primary orientation is Bowen family therapy.
Bowen family theory is one of the few psychosocial theories that consider healthy relationships as prerequisite to personal maturity and psychological health (Skowron, 2004). Bowen said that, “working on self through traditional individual therapy avoids the reality that one’s family, rather than the therapeutic relationship, is the crucible for becoming a higher functioning individual: You were born into a birthright and you never give it up; all other relationships are transient” (as cited in Titleman, 2014, p. 520). Bowen believed that unresolved, family of origin issues eventually follow individuals into present-day relationships (Charles, 2001).
Bowen saw the family as the emotional unit (Gilbert, 2006). The emotional system, also known as undifferentiated family ego mass is “an emotional process that shifts about within the nuclear family,” (Bowen, 1966, p. 355). Each member affects another and anxiety is spread throughout the system (Gilbert, 2006). The degree of stress dictates how far anxiety spreads throughout the system. During extremely high stress periods, anxiety can spread from the nuclear family to the extended family to non-relatives and representatives such as law enforcement, social service agencies, and educational bodies (Bowen, 1966).
From a Bowenian perspective, the goal of therapy is to “guide one or more family members (or parents) to become a more solid, defined self in the face of the emotional forces created by the marriage, children, and/ or family of origin, in order to gain the clarity and conviction to carry through one’s own positions,” (Titelman, 2014, p. 520). Bowen did not believe in merely alleviating symptoms (Titleman, 2014). He found symptom amelioration to be short-lived if not accompanied by long-term changes in differentiation (Winek, 2010). Differentiation is the ability to manage the life forces of individuality and togetherness (Titleman, 2014). It is the capacity for emotional maturity and independence while still maintaining a connection to others (Charles, 2001).
References:
Bowen, M. (1966). The use of family theory in clinical practice. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 7(5), 435-374.
Charles, R. (2001). Is there any empirical support for Bowen’s concepts of differentiation of self, triangulation, and fusion? The American Journal of Family Therapy, 29, 279-292.
Gilbert, R. M. (2006). The eight concepts o of Bowen theory. Front Royal, VA: Leading Systems Press.
Skowron, E. A. (2004). Differentiation of self, personal adjustment, problem solving, and ethnic group belonging among persons of color. The American Counseling Association, 82, 447-456.
Titelman, P. (2014). Clinical applications of Bowen family systems theory – Kindle edition New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.