their extremely strong sense of loyalty and
their willingness to follow through on therapeutic suggestions. They are also apt
to accept the therapist readily; they may not question credentials, even when it
may be in their best interests to do so. Unfortunately, their responsiveness can
become a hazard when it produces compliance without real collaboration in the change
process. The therapist must help them develop a genuine investment in the process
of change and not rely on their politeness, sense of responsibility, and obligation
to duty.

Small changes may be registered as large gains in the family, in spite of the
many aspects of family relating that remain unaltered. Because of their ability to
compartmentalize, they may change, yet have many levels on which they have not connected
the therapy with their lives. Therapy, like their religion, their dreams,about
internal change. Structuring the distance and intimacy will increase the family's
sense of control over their feelings. The Irish may respond extremely well to Bowen
Coaching, because of its emphasis on working out relationships in private, and on
personal responsibility for change. The Irish are, indeed, excellent candidates for
such therapy and may continue working to change relationships on their own, long
after the therapy is over, because of the way it provides them with a method for
reworking relationships they may have found overwhelming and confusing in the past.

One young woman, whose father had been a successful journalist and the rebel of
his family, had great difficulty establishing a relationship with her sole surviving
aunt, who was the principal upholder of "Irish Catholic values" for the
family. This aunt had been the spinster sister who remained