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AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY JULIE L. JONES MAY 2008 DEDICATION It is with heartfelt love and sincere gratitude that I dedicate this thesis to my husband, partner in ministry, and best friend, Kevin Jones. His unconditional love and support, together with his sacrificial giving of time and resources, have contributed greatly to the completion of this doctoral program. Additionally, I wish to dedicate this thesis to my mother, Olive Lalonde, whose modeling of love, respect, endurance, and determination has contributed to the person I am today. iv CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES vii ABSTRACT viii Chapter 1. INTEGRATIVE MODEL 1 Introduction 1 Family Systems Theory 2 Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) 6 Biblical Understanding of Persons 24 2. BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 27 Introduction 27 Creatureliness 28 Co-Humanity 28 Imago Dei 29 Sin 34 Sexuality 38 Marriage 38 Family 41 Change 43 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 49 Integration 49 Family Systems Theory 53 Bowen Family Systems Theory 57 v Theological Anthropology (Personhood, Imago Dei, Sin) 58 Marriage, Sexuality, Family 59 Theory of Change 61 4. CASE STUDY 62 Identifying Information 62 Relevant History 62 Current Mental Status 70 Psychological and Spiritual Formulation 71 Family 83 Diagnosis 85 Ongoing Issues and Challenges 86 Treatment Plan 89 5. CONDUCT AND PROGRESS OF THERAPY 93 Introduction 93 Therapist Role 93 Couple Tasks 95 Therapeutic Goals 95 Emotional/Spiritual Goals 96 Conduct of Therapy 96 Reflections on Therapy 102 Personal Learning Factors 103 Summative Statement 103 vi REFERENCES 105 VITA 112 vii TABLES Table 1:1 Systems Terminology 5 1:2 Chabot Emotional Differentiation Scale 10 1:3 Differentiation of Self Inventory 11 1:4 False Self-Symptoms 12 1:5 Seven Laws of Emotional Triangles 13 1:6 Family Triangulation 13 1:7 Duvall’s Stages of the Family Life Cycle 18 2:1 Creation/Fall – Structure and Function 32 2:2 Essential Character of Sin 35 2:3 Who I Am in Christ 37 2:4 Change from a Systems Perspective 43 2:5 Emotional/Spiritual Health Inventory 46 4:1 Emotional/Spiritual Maturity Categories 74 viii ABSTRACT The proposed model is an integrative approach to marriage and family therapy embracing concepts, techniques, and processes from Family Systems Theory and Bowen Family Systems Theory. Unique to this integrative approach is the inclusion of a biblical understanding of persons. An in-depth biblical anthropology is presented in chapter two, with an informative literature review in chapter three. A case study is presented in chapter four, which is discussed therapeutically in chapter five. 1 Chapter 1 Integrative Model Introduction The internal complexities of individuals and the interpersonal dynamics of familial relationships are multifaceted. “Human beings are complicated, thinking, feeling, and acting creatures, who exist in a complex system of biological, psychological, and social influences” (Nichols & Schwartz, 1998, p. 423), and as such require a family therapy model that acknowledges and considers each of these domains in an integrative fashion. Concepts generally employed in family therapy are borrowed from multi- disciplinary fields such as “biology (systems), physiology (homeostasis), cybernetics (feedback), psychosomatic medicine (the social context of illness), community mental health (the therapeutic community), anthropology (structuralism, functionalism, the participant observer), and social work (the social context of problems)” (Nichols & Schwartz, 1998, p. 110). The purpose of this chapter is to propose an integrative model that will employ concepts from each of these disciplines. It is essential that this integrative model recognizes and comprehends the family as a social unit, or a system, and yet addresses cognitive, affective, behavioral, spiritual, and relational aspects of the individual members, and is able to identify the relational factors that contribute to the character and personality of each person. Additionally, when conducting family therapy, it is imperative to understand individual members in the larger context of the family in order to fully understand circular causality. Three elements are included in this integrative model, which are (1) Family Systems Theory, (2) Bowen Family Systems Theory, and (3) a biblical understanding of 2 persons. The component from family systems theory that will contribute to this model is systems thinking, wherein it provides a construct for understanding the manner in which systems work. Bowen Family Systems Theory is a therapeutic model that compliments systems thinking in a practical way and helps in comprehending the functionality of human relationships within a systemic framework. It views the family as a system without minimizing the individual member’s integrity, and acknowledges system dynamics insofar as multigenerational influences and nuclear family processes as well as acknowledging that change in one person can trigger change in the whole system. A biblical understanding of persons is complementary to the above two elements and provides an accurate understanding of anthropology. These three elements, systems thinking, Bowen family systems therapy, and a biblical understanding of persons contribute to the proposed integrative family counseling model. One way to think about these three elements in a complementary way is by imagining systems thinking as the skeleton, Bowen Family Systems Therapy as the flesh on the skeleton, and biblical personhood as giving life to the human being. A brief introduction to each of these elements follows. Family Systems Theory One of the foundational elements of family is structure, “how it arranges, organizes, and maintains itself at a particular cross-section of time … [and a second element is process] … the way it evolves, adapts, or changes over time” (Corsini and Wedding, 2000, p. 376). In this view, the family is perceived as a system, “a complexly organized, durable, causal network of related parts that together constitute an entity larger than the simple sum of its individual members” (Corsini and Wedding, 2000, p. 376). The