Boundary Dissolution

Minuchin (1974) proposed that entire families could be characterized with qualities such as enmeshment. However, although the whole family system might be characterized by a particular type of boundary rigidity or permeability, it is also possible for there to be multiple kinds of boundaries in a family. Philip and Carolyn Cowan (1990) point out that an enmeshed mother-child relationship, for example, is usually counterbalanced by detachment in the relationship between father and the child. If different forms of boundaries exist simultaneously, Cowan and Cowan ask, "How, then, are we to describe the family?" (p. 42).

To address the dilemma of multiple relationships, many family systems investigators assess the boundaries between each dyad in the family (Kerig 2001b). For example, a commonly used clinical method of assessing multiple relationships in the family is the genogram (McGoldrick, Gerson, and Shellenberger 1997), which depicts the quality of the relationship between each pair of family members. A dotted line may be used to depict a disengaged relationship, a solid line a close relationship, and a double line an enmeshed relationship. By examining the constellation of relationships within a family, a clinician is able to discern where boundary violations have occurred and whether enmeshment in one relationship interferes with closeness between other family members. By the same token, the majority of questionnaire measures used to assess boundary dissolution inquire separately about the mother-child and father-child relationships.