The Bowen Center

Can science tell us whether blood is thicker than water? Are we particularly nice to our blood kin and, if so, why? In The Altruism Equation, Dr. Lee Alan Dugatkin tells the story of the fierce debate about altruism and kinship among evolutionary biologists, Before the debate was over, politics, philosophy, even religion, would enter […]

In her recent book, The Beauty of What Remains, Dr. Susan Hadler reveals the details of her journey to break through barriers of absence, silence and prohibitions. This effort was an opportunity to gain strength and support to persevere in the face of reactivity to find the lost, to bridge cut-offs and to bring her shattered family together. Her husband, The Rev. Jacques Hadler, journeyed with her using his awareness of Bowen theory through his learning experience with Rabbi Edwin Friedman. Dr. Hadler will talk about her journey and The Rev. Hadler will describe how Bowen Theory was an influence in this process.

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on February 9, 2017.

The development of higher cortical systems involved in the ability to manage self is embedded in the relationship circuitry of the family. The differentiation of the intellectual system and its relationship to the family will be discussed in its developmental and evolutionary contexts.

*Please note that there were some technical difficulties in this recording of this presentation. At about 48:45 there is a period of silence where we switched to a back up recorder.

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on January 12, 2017.

Observations from clinical work with couples who have children reveal certain gender based relationship patterns consistent with other mammals that form pair bonds. Stress affects males and females differently, and they often show different patterns of behavior regarding social bonding. The psycho/behavioral systems involved in this intricate interplay between males, females, and offspring are rooted partly in the neurobiology of social affiliation and pair bonding, which is similar among mammalian species. The differences in how males and females manage stress reactivity and affiliation lead to predictable ways that triangles take shape as tension arises within families. The concept of the triangle theoretically grounds the predictable patterns that emerge within the family unit involving parents.

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on January 8, 2015.

Keith Tignor has worked closely with the beekeeping industry for over twenty-five years. He is coordinator of the regulatory and assistance programs for beekeeping in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This presentation will include his recent research on the beekeeping industry that demonstrates how bees are a symptom of the environment in which they live.

Keith Tignor, State Apiarist, Office of Plant Industry Services, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Richmond, VA

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on October 6, 2016.

When Dr. Murray Bowen died in 1990, he left a vast collection of materials, (including audio and videotapes, professional and Dear Family” letters, original research records, drafts of papers, and presentations) that documents the thinking and research that led to Bowen theory.  The Murray Bowen Archives Project is dedicated to making these materials available to scientists, scholars, historians, clinicians, and the interested public.  An overview of the project will be offered, with emphasis on future plans.  Dr. Joanne Bowen, President of The Murray Bowen Archives Project, will be present during the discussion following the presentation to answer questions.

The Rev. Carol Jeunnette, PhD, Executive Director, The Murray Bowen Archives Project, Williamsburg, VA

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on May 5, 2016.

As much as 8,000,000 tonnes of plastic enters the ocean every year and this amount is predicted to double within the next decade. This number keeps increasing in pace with global plastics production. Left unchecked, by 2025 as much as 1 tonne of plastic may be in the ocean for every 3 tonnes of fin fish. Plastic inputs are ultimately an unintended consequence of rapid development, with the most concentrated inputs currently generated from several rapidly developing economies. These plastic inputs to the ocean not only harm marine environments and fisheries, but also impose economic costs to cities in the form of public health, water contamination, and quality of life. New analyses led by Ocean Conservancy and its partners to conclude, however, that global plastics input to the ocean can be significantly reduced with a portfolio of initiatives customized to geographies where ocean plastic inputs are largest. To achieve these reductions, we need to combine an accelerated build-up of waste collection infrastructure and treatment technologies with a broader circular economy approach which represents a necessary redesign of the future, where industrial systems are restorative and regenerative by intention and design.

Nicholas Mallos, MS, Director, Trash Free Seas Program, Ocean Conservancy, Washington, DC

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on June 2, 2016.

As the parental brain extends its attention from self to offspring, neural and physiological adaptations enhance emotional resilience and cognitive flexibility. Stress responsivity – associated with susceptibility to psychiatric illness and chronic disease – is dampened in males from both bi-parental and uni-parental primate models (e.g. owl monkeys and long-tailed macaques, respectively). Recent investigation of maternal rat brains suggests that potential mechanisms of this effect are related to reduced responsiveness of stress hormone receptors and enhanced neuroplasticity markers in the hippocampus, a brain area known for integrative emotional functions and learning ability

Kelly Lambert, PhD, Faculty, Joan Brock Professor of Psychology, Department Chair, Randolph Macon College, Ashland, VA

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on April 13, 2016 (Wednesday).

Can Bowen theory give us a way to understand the enormous complexity of societal events that we observe or experience personally? Are these events, which have occurred throughout human history, enhanced through media bombardment? This presentation will apply concepts from Bowen theory such as differentiation, triangles, projection process, reciprocal functioning, and cutoff to a number of turning points in history in an attempt to develop a model for analyzing and understanding these events.

Katharine G. Baker, PhD, Private Practice, Northampton, MA

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on March 10, 2016.

Clinical Public Health is the enhancement of health care by providers’ use of the principles of epidemiology and population health, health policy, health systems management, and community health. Changes in the structure, financing, and performance expectations of health care systems are creating unparalleled opportunities for improved individual and community health while drastically altering the roles of individual providers and the health systems in which they practice. Accordingly, medical professional education should provide the requisite knowledge and skill-building, so tomorrows’ providers will be equipped to provide excellent care to individual patients. This enhances their ability to understand and perform their role as community health leaders to identify and mitigate community-level determinants of health.

Lawrence Deyton, MSPH, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Public Health, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC

This lecture was recorded live at The Bowen Center in Washington, DC on February 4, 2016.