Clinical problems or symptoms usually develop during periods of heightenedand prolonged family tension. The level of tension depends on the stress afamily encounters, how a family adapts to the stress, and on a family'sconnection with extended family and social networks. Tension increases theactivity of one or more of the four relationship patterns. Where symptomsdevelop depends on which patterns are most active. The higher the tension, themore chance that symptoms will be severe and that several people will besymptomatic.
The four basic relationship patterns are:
Marital conflict- As family tensionincreases and the spouses get more anxious, each spouse externalizes his orher anxiety into the marital relationship. Each focuses on what is wrongwith the other, each tries to control the other, and each resists theother's efforts at control.The basic relationship patterns result in family tensions coming to rest incertain parts of the family. The more anxiety one person or one relationshipabsorbs, the less other people must absorb. This means that some family membersmaintain their functioning at the expense of others. People do not want to hurteach other, but when anxiety chronically dictates behavior, someone usuallysuffers for it.Dysfunction in onespouse- One spouse pressures the other to think and act incertain ways and the other yields to the pressure. Both spouses accommodateto preserve harmony, but one does more of it. The interaction is comfortablefor both people up to a point, but if family tension rises further, thesubordinate spouse may yield so much self-control that his or her anxietyincreases significantly. The anxiety fuels, if other necessary factors arepresent, the development of a psychiatric, medical, or social dysfunction.
Impairment of one or more children-The spouses focus their anxieties on one or more of their children. Theyworry excessively and usually have an idealized or negative view of thechild. The more the parents focus on the child the more the child focuses onthem. He is more reactive than his siblings to the attitudes, needs, andexpectations of the parents. The process undercuts the child'sdifferentiation from the family and makes him vulnerable to act out orinternalize family tensions. The child's anxiety can impair his schoolperformance, social relationships, and even his health.
Emotional distance- This pattern isconsistently associated with the others. People distance from each other toreduce the intensity of the relationship, but risk becoming too isolated.
Example:
The tensions generated by Michael and Martha's interactions lead to emotionaldistance between them and to an anxious focus on Amy. Amy reacts to her parents'emotional over involvement with her by making immature demands on them,particularly on her mother.
[Analysis: A parent's emotional overinvolvement with a child programs the child to be as emotionally focused on theparent as the parent is on the child and to react intensely to real or imaginedsigns of withdrawal by the parent.]
When Amy was four years old, Martha got pregnant again. She wanted anotherchild, but soon began to worry about whether she could meet the emotional needsof two children. Would Amy be harmed by feeling left out? Martha worried abouttelling Amy that she would soon have a little brother or sister, wanting to putoff dealing with her anticipated reaction as long as possible. Michael thoughtit was silly but went along with Martha. He was outwardly supportive about thepregnancy, he too wanted another child, but he worried about Martha's ability tocope.
[Analysis: Martha externalizes heranxiety onto Amy rather than onto her husband or rather than internalizing it.Michael avoids conflict with Martha by supporting the focus on Amy and avoidsdealing with his own anxieties by focusing on Martha's coping abilities.]
ApartfromherfairlyintenseanxietiesaboutAmy,Martha'ssecondpregnancywaseasierthanthefirst.Adaughter,Marie,wasbo
正在提交中...
