Treatment Planning
Mark (44) and Susan (42) arrive with their 15-year-old son Jake, the identified patient with anger issues. In a structural assessment session, the therapist observes that Jake becomes agitated whenever his parents disagree about discipline. Jake's anger appears to escalate before his parents' arguments peak — as if he is absorbing the tension. Susan's body language reveals that she frequently yields to Mark's opinions to avoid escalation. Mark describes his own father as 'a strict man who didn't tolerate backtalk.' The therapist recognizes that Jake may be triangulated into the parental conflict. What is the MOST appropriate Bowen intervention?
Your answer: A•Correct: B
Rationale: Bowenian theory holds that the most powerful intervention is at the level of the multigenerational emotional process. Mark's unconscious repetition of his own father's authoritarian discipline style — combined with Susan's yielding to avoid conflict — creates a family system where Jake is triangulated as both the scapegoat and the emotional regulator. Using the genogram to help Mark see this pattern in himself — and to understand how his differentiation from his own father is incomplete — is the most systemic and enduring intervention.