MFT NATIONAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 2026
EXAM TEST PAPER UPDATED QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS 100% CORRECT
⩥ Bowen Triangles. Answer: Smallest stable unit in system. Forms out
of the anxiety of a 2-person system; to stabilize the relationship a third
party is drawn in.
⩥ Bowen Solid-Self. Answer: An individual who is more differentiated
and is able to function based on personally defined set of values, beliefs,
convictions and life principles.
⩥ Bowen Pseudo-Self. Answer: An individual who is not differentiated
and may be fused with another person. Does not reason from own
internal values but borrows from others.
⩥ Bowen Societal Emotional Process. Answer: Society influences how
families function. Bowen believed that the more differentiated
individuals and families resist destructive social influences (sexism,
racism, etc.)
⩥ Bowen Therapy Structure. Answer: 1. Assessment Phase - Patterns of
togetherness and individual exploration of family of origin.
2. Genogram Phase
,3. Differentiation Phase
⩥ Bowen Going Home Again. Answer: Technique that encourages
clients to go home and experience family of origin without emotional
reactivity. Researches emotional cut-offs. identifying triangles, etc.
⩥ Bowen Primary Contributor. Answer: Murray Bowen
⩥ Bowen Diagnosing. Answer: Non-pathologizing and systemic focus.
⩥ Bowen Goals of Therapy. Answer: 1. Decrease Anxiety
2. Increase levels of differentiation.
Focus on working through underlying process and conflicts, not
symptom reduction.
⩥ Bowen Person to Person Relationships. Answer: When one is
differentiated and can talk rationally to another person without blaming
the other or triangulating.
⩥ Bowen Emotional Cut-Off. Answer: Minimizing contact with family.
It may decrease anxiety but does not resolve fusion. May be denial of
importance of family and an exaggerated sense of independence.
,⩥ Bowen Nuclear Family Emotional Process (Undifferentiated Ego
Mass). Answer: People tend to select spouses that are the same level of
differentiation. Less differentiation = More fusion =
1. Reactive emotional distance
2. Dysfunction in spouse
3. Overt marital conflict
4. Project unto children
⩥ Bowen Relationship Experiment. Answer: A technique that helps
clients experience what it's like to act counter to their usual emotionally
driven responses. Helps people discover their ability to move against the
ways emotions are driving them.
⩥ Bowen Therapist Stance. Answer: Coach - Helps clients start process
of self-discovery and differentiation.
⩥ Bowen Process Questions. Answer: Designed to slow people down,
diminish anxiety, and start them thinking. Structured to encourage
clients to think about the processes within the family and about their
roles.
⩥ Bowen Therapist Position. Answer: I position, coaches to make "I
statements". Therapist may model this behavior while remaining neutral
and not emotionally reactive to avoid triangulation. *Non-anxious
presence*
, ⩥ Bowen Multi-generational Transmission Process. Answer: Emotional
responses are passed down through generations. Least differentiated
child will marry undifferentiated person and subsequent generations will
be less differentiated.
⩥ Bowen Assessment. Answer: Genogram - Symbolic chart of family.
Tracks multi-generational family processes and tracks changes in
triangles.
⩥ Bowen Displacement Story. Answer: A technique for helping family
members achieve sufficient distance to see their own roles in family
system. Story would be about another family with similar problems.
⩥ Contextual Merit. Answer: Earned when parents are responsible and
ethical with the equitable asymmetry within the parent-child
relationship. If parents are equitable and fair, they earn merit, which
leads to loyalty from childhood when the children become adults.
⩥ Contextual Equitable Asymmetry. Answer: The concept that children
cannot care for themselves and are entirely dependent upon their parents.
⩥ Contextual Multidirectional Partiality. Answer: Therapist is
accountable for everyone whose well-being is potentially impacted by a
therapeutic intervention. Every intervention must serve the best interests
of everyone involved.
EXAM TEST PAPER UPDATED QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS 100% CORRECT
⩥ Bowen Triangles. Answer: Smallest stable unit in system. Forms out
of the anxiety of a 2-person system; to stabilize the relationship a third
party is drawn in.
⩥ Bowen Solid-Self. Answer: An individual who is more differentiated
and is able to function based on personally defined set of values, beliefs,
convictions and life principles.
⩥ Bowen Pseudo-Self. Answer: An individual who is not differentiated
and may be fused with another person. Does not reason from own
internal values but borrows from others.
⩥ Bowen Societal Emotional Process. Answer: Society influences how
families function. Bowen believed that the more differentiated
individuals and families resist destructive social influences (sexism,
racism, etc.)
⩥ Bowen Therapy Structure. Answer: 1. Assessment Phase - Patterns of
togetherness and individual exploration of family of origin.
2. Genogram Phase
,3. Differentiation Phase
⩥ Bowen Going Home Again. Answer: Technique that encourages
clients to go home and experience family of origin without emotional
reactivity. Researches emotional cut-offs. identifying triangles, etc.
⩥ Bowen Primary Contributor. Answer: Murray Bowen
⩥ Bowen Diagnosing. Answer: Non-pathologizing and systemic focus.
⩥ Bowen Goals of Therapy. Answer: 1. Decrease Anxiety
2. Increase levels of differentiation.
Focus on working through underlying process and conflicts, not
symptom reduction.
⩥ Bowen Person to Person Relationships. Answer: When one is
differentiated and can talk rationally to another person without blaming
the other or triangulating.
⩥ Bowen Emotional Cut-Off. Answer: Minimizing contact with family.
It may decrease anxiety but does not resolve fusion. May be denial of
importance of family and an exaggerated sense of independence.
,⩥ Bowen Nuclear Family Emotional Process (Undifferentiated Ego
Mass). Answer: People tend to select spouses that are the same level of
differentiation. Less differentiation = More fusion =
1. Reactive emotional distance
2. Dysfunction in spouse
3. Overt marital conflict
4. Project unto children
⩥ Bowen Relationship Experiment. Answer: A technique that helps
clients experience what it's like to act counter to their usual emotionally
driven responses. Helps people discover their ability to move against the
ways emotions are driving them.
⩥ Bowen Therapist Stance. Answer: Coach - Helps clients start process
of self-discovery and differentiation.
⩥ Bowen Process Questions. Answer: Designed to slow people down,
diminish anxiety, and start them thinking. Structured to encourage
clients to think about the processes within the family and about their
roles.
⩥ Bowen Therapist Position. Answer: I position, coaches to make "I
statements". Therapist may model this behavior while remaining neutral
and not emotionally reactive to avoid triangulation. *Non-anxious
presence*
, ⩥ Bowen Multi-generational Transmission Process. Answer: Emotional
responses are passed down through generations. Least differentiated
child will marry undifferentiated person and subsequent generations will
be less differentiated.
⩥ Bowen Assessment. Answer: Genogram - Symbolic chart of family.
Tracks multi-generational family processes and tracks changes in
triangles.
⩥ Bowen Displacement Story. Answer: A technique for helping family
members achieve sufficient distance to see their own roles in family
system. Story would be about another family with similar problems.
⩥ Contextual Merit. Answer: Earned when parents are responsible and
ethical with the equitable asymmetry within the parent-child
relationship. If parents are equitable and fair, they earn merit, which
leads to loyalty from childhood when the children become adults.
⩥ Contextual Equitable Asymmetry. Answer: The concept that children
cannot care for themselves and are entirely dependent upon their parents.
⩥ Contextual Multidirectional Partiality. Answer: Therapist is
accountable for everyone whose well-being is potentially impacted by a
therapeutic intervention. Every intervention must serve the best interests
of everyone involved.
