Benefits and limitations of Bowen therapy with psychiatric inpatients.

The authors discuss the benefits and limitations of Bowen family systems therapy for psychiatric inpatients. Although this method may enable some patients to deal more effectively with crucial problems in their families of origins, its application for psychiatric inpatients has met with varying results. The authors discuss why hospitalized patients may have particular difficulties using Bowen therapy. The assumptions of Bowen theory are reviewed and critiqued in the context of the special problems encountered when working in a psychiatric hospital system.