Relationship Between Differentiation of Self and the Stress and Distress Associated With Predictive Cancer Genetic Counseling and Testing: Preliminary Evidence.

Abstract

Cancer Genetics Program for their help in this endeavor. We especially thank Kevin Sweet, M.A. for his help with data collection. associated with the stress associated with the counseling and/or testing situation, and psychological distress for both probands and study partners.

Differentiation of the Self and Posttraumatic Symptomatology Among ex‐POWs and Their Wives

“…This finding is in line with Bowen’s (1978) theory that poorly differentiated individuals tend to exhibit more psychopathology. It is also in line with previous studies that found a significant connection between poor differentiation and various psychiatric problems (e.g., Bartle‐Haring & Gregory, 2003; Tuason & Friedlander, 2000). More specifically, the finding that cut‐off is related to emotional distress may stem from the fact that this state of over‐differentiation corresponds to and reminds ex‐POWs of the original experience of captivity.…”

“…Empirical findings support these claims regarding the ability of highly differentiated individuals to manage stress. Highly differentiated individuals were found to suffer from lower levels of avoidant and intrusive thoughts (Bartle‐Haring & Gregory, 2003), general psychiatric distress (Tuason & Friedlander, 2000), behavioral dysfunctions (Haber, 1993), trait anxiety (Griffin & Apostal, 1993), and depression (Elieson & Rubin, 2001).…”

Using Bowen Theory to Examine Progress in Couple Therapy

“…Bartle-Haring and Probst (2004) found that for reactivity to mother, passive reactivity predicted psychological symptoms, but not stressful life events, while for reactivity to father, passive and active reactivity predicted psychological symptoms in a clinical sample. Bartle-Haring and Gregory (2003) also found that higher levels of differentiation in the participant and the study partner were associated with less stress and distress experienced with genetic counseling and/or testing for cancer. They concluded that differentiation of self might provide a buffer against the stress that may accompany genetic counseling and testing and thus result in less psychological distress.…”

Psychological adjustment among male partners in response to women's breast/ovarian cancer risk: a theoretical review of the literature

“…Studies were considered eligible for inclusion in the literature review if they were published in a peer-reviewed journal and were in the English language. A systematic literature search yielded 10 published studies on at-risk women and their male partners [7,12,24,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. All studies either primarily investigated partners of high-risk women or included partners when investigating women themselves; however, one of these studies [45] did not investigate male partner distress as an outcome variable.…”