Victoria Harrison, MA
Victoria Harrison, a founding director of the Center for the Study of Natural Systems, now serves as the Current Director of the Board and directs programs in Houston, Texas. She develops and teaches in educational programs, provides supervision consultation, and is active in research projects and writing.
Ms. Harrison began studying at Georgetown University Family Center in 1976 after graduating from Rice University and a Master’s program at Antioch University. She continued to study and work at GFC while developing a private practice and working in community services in Baltimore, Maryland.
She served on faculty at Bowen Center for the Study of the Family (formerly GFC) from 1992 to May 2023, when she resigned. She will continue to attend conferences and programs at BCSF and teach and present upon invitation.
Ms. Harrison was licensed to practice psychotherapy in Texas as a Marriage and Family Therapist until April 2024. She now provides clinical consultation and coaching with people who are involved in the study and practice of Bowen theory . She includes self-regulation training with and without Neurofeedback in her services. She studied Biofeedback at the Georgetown Family Center Biofeedback Program established by Lilian Rosenbaum, LCSW-C, BCB, Ph.D., and later Neurofeedback with Priscilla Friesen, LCSW. She held national certification through the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America.
She established Family Health Services in Houston to provide psychotherapy with biofeedback and neurofeedback based on Bowen theory at fees people can afford. She works with families who are dealing with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, depression, and GI diagnoses, among many others, and with symptoms related to reproduction, such as infertility, ovulatory disturbance, endometriosis, and sexual problems. She also works with families experiencing marital conflict and infidelity and challenges with children.
Ms. Harrison’s clinical research focuses on the impact of family relationships on the physiology responsible for health and reproduction. In 2004, Bowen Center for the Study of the Family awarded her the Caskie Research Award for her research on “Reactivity and Family Relationships in Development and Treatment of Symptoms that Impact Health and Reproduction with Endometriosis as a Model.”
Research
Health and Reproduction
Victoria Harrison has pursued research projects using Bowen theory to understand better symptoms that impact health and reproduction since 1980. The history of health problems in her own family and the opportunity to work with families experiencing infertility related to various diagnoses fueled what has become a life’s work. One goal of the research is to provide valuable knowledge in improving health and dealing with factors that affect reproduction. Another study goal is a broader understanding of how health and reproduction are part of human evolution, responsive to factors and forces operating in all other life forms.
A timeline of this research is available in her presentation on “Bowen Theory, Reproduction & Evolution” at Bowen Theory Then and Now, a conference held by the Western Pennsylvania Family Center in 2003. (Family Systems Forum, Vol. V, Number 3, page 5) Publications include:
“Stress Reactivity and Family Relationships in the Development and Treatment of Endometriosis.” April 2005. Fertility and Sterility. Vol. 83 No. 4. 857-864.
“Emotional Cutoff and Reproduction.” 2003. Chapter 10 in Emotional Cutoff and Bowen Theory, edited by Peter Titleman. Haworth Press: New York.
“A Better Chance: The Impact of Family Systems on Health and Reproduction.” 2002 in Family Systems Forum ” Family Emotional Process, Reactivity and the Regulation of Ovulation.” Winter, 1998. Family Systems. Bowen Center for the Study of the Family.
“Patterns of Ovulation, Reactivity, and Family Emotional Process.” 1997. Annals of NY Academy of the Sciences, vol. 807, The Integrative Neurobiology Of Affiliation. 522-524.
“A Wider Lens: Bowen Theory and a Systems View of Symptoms” in CAPA Quarterly, to be published in February 2013. Australia.
Reprints for publications and articles based on this research are available.
Publications
2015. “Bowen Theory and Differences in Thinking.” Family Systems Forum. Volume XVI, 4:3.
2014. “A Wider Lens Bowen Theory and a Natural Systems View of Symptoms.” Family Systems Forum. Volume XV, 2:3.
2014. “Emotional Reactivity, Fusion, and Differentiation of Self in Family Physiology: Clinical Case Research.” Differentiation of Self. Bowen Family Systems Theory Perspectives. Ed. Peter Titelman. NY: Routledge.
2013. “Contribution of Nuclear Family Triangles to Variation in Physiological Reactivity.” Family Systems 9(2):145-153.
2012. “Overcoming Blind Spots Common in Leadership.” Family Systems Forum. Volume XII, 4:3.
2012. “The Functions of Triangles in Problems and Problem-Solving.” Family Systems Forum. Volume XIV, 2:6.
2012. “Defining and Examining Beliefs as a Part of Differentiation of Self.” Family Systems Forum. Volume XIV. 3:9.
2011. “Live Learning: Differentiation of Self as the Basis for Learning.” Bringing Systems Thinking to Life. Eds. Ona Bregman and Charles White. NY: Routledge.2009. “Family Reactions to Birth.” Family Systems Forum. Volume XI. 4:1.
2008. “The Emotional Side of Money, Part 2: Wealth and Health in Families and Societies.” Family Systems Forum. Volume X. 4:1.
2007. “The Emotional Side of Money.” Family Systems Forum. Volume IX. 4:1.
2007. “Family Systems and Learning, Part III: The Difference One Person Can Make.” Family Systems Forum. Volume VIII, 1.1.
2005. “Family Systems and Learning, Part I: Teaching What One Does Not Know.” Family Systems Forum. Volume VII. 3:3.
2005. “Family Systems and Learning, Part II: Reading, Writing and Relationships.” Family Systems Forum. Volume VII. 4:1.
2005. “Stress Reactivity and Family Relationships in the Development and Treatment of Endometriosis.” Fertility and Sterility 83(4):857-864.
2005. “A Better Chance: Part VII, Progress Report: One Family’s Experience.” Family Systems Forum. Volume VII. 1:3.
2004. “A Better Chance: Part VI, An Example of Systems Theory.” Family Systems Forum. Volume VI. 3:3.
2004. “A Better Chance: Part V, Understanding and Managing Emotional Reactivity and Chronic Illness” Family Systems Forum. Volume VI, 2:3.
2003. “Bowen Theory and the Study of Reproduction and Evolution” Family Systems Forum. Volume V. 3:5.
2003. “Emotional Cutoff and Reproduction” in Emotional Cutoff and Bowen Theory. Peter Titelman, ed. Binghamton: The Haworth Press.
2002. “A Better Chance: Part III” Family Systems Forum. Volume IV.2:3.
2002. “A Better Chance: Part IV” Family Systems Forum. Volume IV. 3:1.
2001. “A Better Chance: A Series on Systems Therapy Based on Bowen Theory” Family Systems Forum. Volume III. 2:4.
2001. “A Better Chance: Part II” Family Systems Forum. Volume III. 3:1.
1998. “Family Emotional Process, Reactivity, and Patterns of Ovulation.” Family Systems 4(1):49-62.
1997. “Patterns of Ovulation, Reactivity, and Family Emotional Process.” The Integrative Neurobiology of Affiliation. Annals of the NY Academy of the Sciences 807:522-524.
In the Media
