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            In any family, a given child can receive so much focus (anxiety) that other siblings are left a little freer of the family emotional process.  They will receive less anxiety.  Thus, they are less fused into the family self-amalgam (are less a part of the family emotional process).  At the same time, they do not cut off from it.  They are in communication with it.  They recognize the problems, and they, too, carry some of the spillover anxiety, just not as much.  With less anxiety to deal with, they develop more basic self to go out and do whatever their talents call for in the world.

The Eight Concepts of Bowen Theory, Roberta M. Gilbert, M.D., page 69