CFC 2024 Summer Conference: The Complexity of Cutoff

This day will explore the family system’s concept of cutoff, the severing of contact in a family to manage tension, through presentations, discussion, and videotaped clinical interviews. Cutoff, one of eight concepts in Bowen theory, addresses how dependency between generations is managed through emotional and physical distance. Contrary to views of family rifts as resulting from different lifestyles or values, cutoff reflects efforts to manage intense interdependence in a family. It can diminish emotionality for an individual but also lead to isolation and the loss of resources of an extended family. The work of differentiation, the effort to define oneself calmly in a family as a stepping stone toward bridging cutoff, will be explored.

About our speaker: Anne McKnight, PhD, MSW

Anne S. McKnight Ed.D. is a family therapist who has presented on Bowen theory nationally and internationally. Appointed to the faculty of the Bowen Center in 1994, she has served in a variety of positions there, including as Director from 2010-2020. She recently edited a book of clinical case studies, Thinking Systems, and has two articles in publication, “Two Perspectives on Family Rifts: Estrangement and Cutoff”, and “Bowlby’s Attachment Theory and Bowen’s Family systems theory: What are the differences and implications for clinical practice?”

She is currently in private practice in Arlington, VA.

Countinuing Education: (CEUs) 6 Credit Hours

Approved for: Social Workers, Clinical Psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Professional Counselors/Clinical Counselors

Host or Publisher Center for Family Consultation