Episode Details

What if narcissistic abuse isn’t just about individual pathology but a deeper structural problem in the family system? This episode explores Murray Bowen’s groundbreaking family systems theory—developed in the 1950s at the Menninger Clinic—and how its eight core concepts reveal the hidden emotional physics behind narcissistic families. We break down differentiation of self, triangulation, the family projection process, and why the “identified patient” may just be the symptom of a system fighting to maintain equilibrium. A clinical lens that reframes flying monkeys, golden children, and scapegoats as structural inevitabilities rather than conscious tactics.