Dr Kent’s Blog

Recently in my life there was significant confusion over what I meant by a family loss being a “casualty of war.”  I have been intending to review Murray Bowen’s book for some time and now is not the time to do so–in a rush.  But some matters are more pressing than others.

Our society has deteriorated and continues to deteriorate.  The greatest loss to the foundations of our country is in the family structure prevalent today.

Today’s families are run by females.  While it is oft referred to as “a man’s world” that is a myth.  In fact, females often say that the world is a mess because men run it.  Hogwash! 

I’ve got news for you:  The person running the world from behind the scenes is a female!  We’ll get back to that slip someday. 

Most of the wealth is held by females, not males.  Note:  There is a difference, a fine discrimination between “female” and “woman.”  Likwise, there are differences between what a “male” is and what a “man” is.  But, we’ll have to cover that another time.  But, I digress.

The importance of Murray Bowen’s contributions to the body of scientific knowledge have been grossly underestimated, undervalued and one might even regard this as “suppressed knowledge.”  Much like students in economics never read “The Wealth of Nations” because the elite have suppressed it from our institutions of “higher” education, psychologists never hear of Murray Bowen!

In the 1950’s sociologist Murray Bowen and his team conducted research at the National Institutes of Mental Health in which they followed families of identified patients with schizophrenia; mother, father and child.  You may have heard the term “schizophrenogenic mother,” but that was an inferior concept.  Bowen discovered that it took BOTH mother AND father to produce a schizophrenic, a mentally ill child.  Bowen’s team got so good at understanding the family systems they were able to predict psychotic episodes!

In short, if one wants to understand mental illness and how to treat it, even successfully cure it, one needs to study Bowen.  If one wants to be a competent psychologist or organizational consult or systems analyst, Bowen’s work holds much of the key.  This is foundational material.

Bowen never published a book himself.  Rather, he published papers and most of the chapters in the “Family Therapy” were collected and edited by Bowen’s students.  Bowen never earned a doctorate.  He had only a master’s degree.  However, he was originally trained in medicine before he began his research in psychology.  Because he was not a psychologist but a sociologist, psychology has ignored one of its greatest minds!

This book represents a rather comprehensive collection of Bowen’s conceptions and work.  It would behoove the country for professionals to study Bowen’s work and realize how important the family structure is and how much the family structure has been damaged in the United States as males became passive and submit to their over-active wives.  Rather than help their wives learn how to modulate their anxiety, males have surrendered to the pressure of the ongoing cultural psychosociopolitical warfare.  As a result, their children and future generations suffer–seriously–needlessly.

The United States can only survive when balance is restored in the American family.  Until that time, we will suffer from an ongoing exacerbation of sociopathy, addictions, increased suicides and a whole lot of other unnecessary suffering.  Haven’t the losses been great enough?