Episode 12: Launching

Episode 12

Topic: Launching
Featured Guest: Erik Thompson, MA
Release Date: September 23, 2025
Dr. Bowen Quotes Referenced:

1. “After adolescence they deal with this by denying the importance of the parents and acting over-independent. In leaving home, they tear themselves away, or “go away” from the parents instead of “growing away”. They are vulnerable to future emotional involvements.”
2. “Along the way my family of origin became more meaningful than ever before. Home was secure as long as my parents were there to maintain a home base. Home was as meaningful as it was in my childhood. Each trip home was another effort to know more and to further my effort to be an individual in my own right.”

Sources:
(1) Bowen, M. (1962, April 28). [Letter]. In C. Boyd (Ed.), Commitment to Principles (chap. 32, “Marriage and the Family Emotional System”). The Murray Bowen Archives Project.

(2) Bowen, M. (1982, October 9). Big Brother Returns Home Again [Paper presented at the Georgetown Family Center Symposium]. The Murray Bowen Archives Project.

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