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Registration for Educational Events and Program

Fusion's Impact:
Stress Reactivity and Attachment in the Family System
with Laura Havstad, PhD

Friday, March 16, 2012

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

The Council on Drug and Alchohol Lecture Hall

303 Jackson Hill Street

Houston, Texas

CSNSF and Houston Psychological Association
            bring Dr. Laura Havstad 

to discuss the implications of  current research on stress reactivity and relationships  for understanding and working with the impact of family systems on health and functioning of family members. 

This conference will feature ways that concepts in Bowen theory, particularly emotional  fusion, help make sense out of variations in the impact of stress and guide change. 

Both family members and the professions that work with families will find this a
useful day of thinking. 

Who is the most fortunate?  Is it the one born into a good position and goes through life with relative ease
or is it the one who lands in a tough spot and learns what it takes to make it through adversity?  Current
research in psychological science shows that children in moderately difficult family situations develop less
stress reactivity and fewer symptoms than do children from highly protected family environments.  At the
same time, children who are more reactive to stress seem to benefit more from advantageous situations
than do less reactive children.  Related findings in medicine, primate studies, and self-regulation research
suggest that this is the case.  What accounts for this? 

Bowen family systems theory is a framework for understanding variation in the impact of stress and provides
avenues for bringing about improved functioning in the family. Murray Bowen observed that family members
are stuck together emotionally. He called this force of nature emotional fusion.  Generally unrecognized in
psychological science, fusion is one variable that adds dimensions to understanding how family attachments
account for the development of stress reactivity and resilience.  The ability to be a separate self, in this
fusion, is an important counterbalance to the impact of fusion. 

Dr. Havstad will discuss current research on the development of stress reactivity, relationships, and on the
mind and the brain in self-regulation. She will also explore differentiation of self as the basis of secure
attachment and the resolution of attachment as a primary goal in family systems therapy.  This meeting,
which includes clinical examples and illustrations as well as research studies, will be a rich
investigation of fusion's impact in family systems and how this knowledge is useful in personal life, psychological
science and clinical practice. 

Laura Havstad, PhD is a psychologist practicing psychotherapy, coaching and consultation based on Bowen theory
in Sebastopol, California, where she also directs Programs in Bowen Theory, a non-profit organization that
provides education and training in Bowen family systems theory.  Dr. Havstad is a frequent lecturer and teacher
of Bowen theory and an editorial consultant to the journal Family Systems.

As an undergraduate at University of California at Davis, Dr. Havstad was a research assistant in personality and
social psychology.  She received her doctate in clinical psychology at University of Southern California in 1980
where she studied interpersonal therapy and cognitive and behavior therapy.  She trained and interned for nearly
3 years at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles and trained in liaison consultation in psychiatry at Sepulveda VA Hospital. 
Dr. Havstad had a special interest in interpersonal Jungian therapy before she decided to enter the postgraduate
program in family systems under the direction of Murray Bowen at Georgetown Family Center in the Department of
Psychiatry at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. 

Dr. Havstad has spent 20 years as one of the leaders in the national network for education in Bowen theory.  She
has given numerous presentations, locally and around the country and organized over 40 meetings on Bowen
family systems theory and its applications.  Laura Havstad has worked in various settings where she brings her
expertise in Bowen family systems theory as a resource for professionals and programs who work from other
approaches.  She moved to Sonoma County in 1979 from her family home in Los Angeles and worked for
Sonoma State Hospital, as an adjunct professor for University of San Franciso and as a Behavioral Science
consultant in the Family Practice Residency at Community Hospital in Santa Rosa. She has served on the
Redwood Psychological Association.  Dr. Havstad knows and respects theoretical differences while using
Bowen theory to learn and integrate knowledge from research and science in various fields. 

Dr. Havstad raised her family with her husband in west Sonoma County among the apply orchards and redwood trees.

                   Conference Program

                                                               
  8:30                Registration & Coffee

  9:00                Welcome and Introductions

  9:15 - 10:15    Fusion's Impact on Cognition and Emotion in Self-Regulation

10:15 - 10:35    Discussion

10:35 - 10:45    Break

10:45 - 11:30    Fusion and Development of Stress Reactivity and Symptoms
                         in Advantageous and Adverse Family Environments

11:30 - 12:00    Discussion

 12:00 - 1:00     Lunch Catered on site by YAPA

   1:00 - 1:55     Fusion, Differentiation and the Basis for Secure Attachment
  
   1:55 - 2:15     Discussion 

   2:15 - 2:30     Break

   2:30 - 3:30     Resolution of Attachment in Therapy Based on Bowen Theory

   3:30 - 4:00     Discussion

  Fees and Registration:  $125 Advance Registration will include lunch catered by Yapa /  Registration at the door will be $150

  For additional information, please contact Victoria Harrison at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 713-790-0226.