Family Emotional Process, Epigenetics, and The Adoptive Family

This presentation will explore the relationship between family emotional process and epigenetics in the adoptive family. Bowen Theory posits that the family is a self-regulating emotional unit that is governed by the same laws that govern all living forms. Family emotional process in the unit defines patterns of emotional functioning in the family system that reflect and contribute to levels of differentiation and chronic anxiety.

Epigenetic research documents the plasticity of gene expression in the human as well as in other species. The results of cross-fostering studies of non-human species stir questions about the impact of the family emotional process on adopted children. In non-human species, epigenetic research points to how a shift in the environment impacts genetic expression in the emotional unit.

About Laura

Laura R. Brooks, LCSW-C, has had a clinical practice for over 40 years. She is an adoptive mother of 2 children. She has done a qualitative research study of 8 adoptive families with an interest in within-family variability and the impact of the child projection process on the child’s functioning. More recently

she has been interested in how family emotional process impacts gene expression, especially in the adoptive family. Ms. Brooks has studied Bowen Theory, first in 1983 at the Menninger Foundation in Kansas and then in 1986 at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family in DC. 

In 2008, she was appointed to the faculty at the Bowen Center where she teaches and supervises in the training programs, serves on the Board of Directors and coordinates the Clinical Conference Series.