The Next Step: Alaska Family Systems

Now a few years after publishing my dissertation, it occurred to me that this site needs a final post. The publication of the dissertation was an appropriate end to the period of deepest thinking I will likely have in my life. I was in graduate school in clinical psychology, a field revealed by the dissertation to still be mostly a philosophical rather than scientific field. I was living alone on a sailboat and meditating three hours a day, which gave me some of the most efficient, clearest, and broadest thinking a person can have. I made few friends and grew few roots. I was totally emerged in my work.

But the thread did not end there. This period produced a philosophical, epistemological, and theoretical model deep enough that it continues to produce an overwhelming number of new projects, products, and articles. I use this model every day in the software field, organizational development, systems coaching, and most of all in personal life. The work from this thread continues formally at alaskafamilysystems.com.

Alaska Family Systems focuses on Bowen theory, the Family Diagram app, and its supporting programs, research, and projects. While the list of articles to write includes some on vipassana meditation, AFS is focused on projects that are more explicit and based on the engineering principles of induction and evidence toward material things that can be built.

There is a book in the works, or at least a set of topics that could become a book given the headspace to work on it. These include a theoretical synthesis of Bowen theory, vipassana, and the collective intelligence and collective behavior research. It is clear that these ideas are viable and probably even important. But these deep and novel topics take a lot of time and a social life has been fun to live since narrow focus of graduate school.

It is possible, and even likely, that I will require a place to put more philosophical or speculative musings. If that is so then I will begin adding to this site again. But until then, it will hold a special place in my heart, as all projects of a calling do.

-Patrick Stinson, Psy.D.

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Published Dissertation

Here is the link to my published dissertation on ProQuest. You can download a PDF for free. The abstract is as follows:

In this theoretical study the author examines the function of valid scientific theory in professional psychology. The author does so by comparing the Bowen theory with the theory of human behavior contained in the practice of vipassanā mediation as taught by Satya Narayan Goenka. A modified metaethnography methodology was used to infer paradigmatic guidelines for natural systems research on human behavior from the Bowen literature. These guidelines were used to determine compatibility of “vipassanā theory” with this natural systems paradigm. The study represents an exhaustive population study of pertinent sources from each body of literature. The findings suggest that the vipassanā tradition reviewed contains a natural system theory as opposed to a system of religious belief. Both theories propose that the way a problem is conceptualized determines the actions taken to solve it. Both, therefore, suggest that problems pertaining to living systems, including emotional dysfunction, are most effectively addressed through an effort at objective theoretical research that applies equally to client and clinician. Both theories contrast this attitude of research with mainstream attitudes primarily oriented around clinical intervention and efficacy studies. For clinical psychology as a science, this suggests a current overemphasis on control of human behavior and an underemphasis on prediction through the development of falsifiable theory. Both theories also suggest that such research proceeds optimally when client and clinician apply principles of natural science to their own functioning, particularly in the context of interpersonal relationship. The study concludes with suggested theoretical contributions from vipassanā theory to the natural sciences.

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Toward a Natural Systems Research Methodology

I could argue that it was Bowen’s research methodology which yielded the novel observation that the family is an emotional unit, and possibly the correct unit of analysis for human behavior and adaptation. This presentation is aimed at more specifically defining the principles behind that methodology so that research on Bowen Theory may proceed into the technological future.

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The Implicit Model – A concept for research, and a case for thinking, objectivity, and theory.

This is an introduction to some broad theoretical thinking I have had over the last few years. It attempts to:

– Describe what it is a Bowen/Systems coach does for a client if they don’t “fix” anything

– Lay down a theoretical basis for that description.

– Address the problem of the live of anthropocentric subjectivity in terms like “objectivity,” “thinking,” “religion,” and “science.”

Here is the referenced video on the 9 Guidelines for Natural Systems Models: https://youtu.be/Epxe64IZcgQ

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What Kind of System is the Family? Part 2/2

This presentation is intended to point out the way of thinking which organizes the application of Bowen’s family systems theory. These principals are not apparent in mainstream family therapy literature which begins with a priori assumptions organized by therapy as apposed to developing a science of human behavior. If you simply read through the concepts of Bowen theory, they will likely not be understood without the broader assumptions about human behavior which makes clear the presumption that the family is an “emotional unit.”

Part one of this presentation is a broad philosophical departure from the Bowen theory itself in order to understand this way of thinking. Part two of this presentation will cover specific aspects of the theory.

Notes

It is important to note for anyone who knows me personally that amidst the challenges of public speaking I mixed up some of the specific facts of my effort at differentiation in my own family, for example some of the “what” and “when” details. But the details are not important to make my point. The “how” details remain the same.

I also made an error about functional changes in position in a triangle reflecting the life forces of individuality and togetherness. These “functional” shifts represent the togetherness force. A person going against the triangle altogether might be the individuality, or “differentiation” force. The individuality force is one in which an individual specializes in the group.

What Kind of System is the Family? (Slides)

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What Kind of System is the Family? Part 1/2

This presentation is intended to point out the way of thinking which organizes the application of Bowen’s family systems theory. These principals are not apparent in mainstream family therapy literature which begins with a priori assumptions organized by therapy as apposed to developing a science of human behavior. If you simply read through the concepts of Bowen theory, they will likely not be understood without the broader assumptions about human behavior which makes clear the presumption that the family is an “emotional unit.”

Part one of this presentation is a broad philosophical departure from the Bowen theory itself in order to understand this way of thinking. Part two of this presentation will cover specific aspects of the theory.

What Kind of System is the Family? (Slides)

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