Working with one's own family: another path for professional development.

Unresolved issues related to the clinician-teacher's family of origin can interfere with working with families and teaching about family systems. For the past three years the author has been working on his own family issues through family therapy training, which challenged him to better differentiate from his family of origin. The therapy model, Bowen Family Systems Theory, asserts that personal changes are best made by altering emotion-based behavior patterns derived from prior generations of the family. Beginning to deal with personal family issues has helped the author teach residents and medical students more effectively and work better with patients and their families.