Making Sense of Human Life

Drawing from rich archival material, this book provides unprecedented access to the professional documents and historical context surrounding the life's work of Dr. Murray Bowen (1913-1990), medical doctor, psychiatrist, and pioneering researcher of Family Systems Theory.
To understand the origins and evolution of this theory, Catherine Rakow explores Bowen's early years as a psychiatrist at the Menninger Foundation - at which time he became curious about the possibility of determining a factual basis for psychoanalytic theory - and explains how this research would foreground Bowen's lifelong study of the family unit at the National Institute of Mental Health. From those seminal years of study and observation, Rakow explains how Bowen developed Family Systems Theory: A theory of human functioning that conceives of family as a naturally occurring, regenerating system. Rakow's close engagement with Bowen's practice and influences at this time allows for a fulsome account of the research process that Bowen undertook to develop this innovatory approach.
In this book, Rakow demonstrates the value of Bowen's work as a model and research methodology for those exploring the role of theory in improving family relationships, making it essential reading for marriage and family therapists, mental health professionals, students, those interested in the history of medicine, and curious individuals alike.

Catherine M. Rakow is an independent researcher, has spent nearly 30 years reviewing Murray Bowen archival materials at the National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Division in Bethesda, MD and the Bowen family collection in Williamsburg, VA.

Introduction  1. Bowen's childhood, medical school, internships  2. The years of active duty 1941-1945  3. Bowen's residency School of Psychiatry at Menninger Foundation, 1946-1947  4. The last year of his residency, a search for answers c. 1947-1948  5. Modifying accepted psychiatric theories and practices 1948-1951  6. Specific case discussions-inpatient studies, 1949-1951  7. Symbiotic relationships  8. A shift toward family 1949-1953  9. Timing and choices 1953 to July 1954  10. Settling in at NIMH, July to October 1954  11. The backstory on the research project: November to December 1954  12. The first families: November 1954 to February 1955  13. The family as a unit, March to July 1955  14. Toward the new hypothesis and treatment, August to December 1955  15. An important non-research family  16. Origin of Bowen's theory