Family Systems Theory: A Case Study

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Family Systems Theory: Vignette II

Discussion of what's going on in this family

Claudia and Margaret had suffered violence at a young age and therefore, are prone to commit acts of aggression, with the chances of developing more symptomatology like anxiety, aggression, depression and low levels of self-esteem, as compared to those who led a violence-free childhood. Being victims of, and exposed to, family violence during childhood years can make Claudia and Margaret victims or offenders. Margaret was a victim of violence when she was young and resorted to aggression as the means to resolving conflicts in her relationships; her personality structure incorporates shame, anger and guilt. Claudia, also being victimized in childhood, cannot regulate her emotions, particularly anger, and exhibits more tolerance to adult intimate abuse. As they were both victimized or exposed to abuse, they not only display aggressive behaviors, but also possess ineffective ways of coping and weak communication skills (Beatty, 2013).

In conducting therapy of couples and families, it is clearly understood that past unresolved wounds become prominent factors that affect intimate relationships in adults. Calcified wounds such as these have resulted in ineffective communication, high distress levels, heightened frustration, as also greater risks of domestic violence (Beatty, 2013). Consequently, though Claudia and Margaret wanted to escape their past relationship patterns, they appear to have re-erected attachment styles or relationship dynamics which continue to propagate violence. Margaret had suffered at the hands of abusive, controlling parents, and this imbued in her the nature of wanting to dominate over others, and an environment that, misleadingly, makes her feel secure. She finds it difficult to empathize with others, Claudia being the one she is callous towards, in this instance. Therefore, she resorts frequently to partner violence at a later time. The kind of attachment to his/her primary caretaker(s) partly determines the degree of resilience or traumatization in a child. Attachment is complimentary, and is the process of inter-connecting intimate messages which develops over several exchanges and experiences.

The attachment styles which can be seen in this particular family are two in kind- namely, insecure and secure. Claudia consistently shows an insecure style of attachment, which comprises dismissing, fearful-avoidant and preoccupied. A childhood attachment style in Claudia which was insecure-disoriented/disorganized became a fearful-avoidant attachment style in her adulthood; insecure- resistant/ambivalent became insecure-preoccupied, while insecure-dismissing childhood attachment style continued to remain insecure-dismissing in her adulthood.

Naturally, the kind of attachment style which was established during childhood for both cases remained consistent in adulthood as well. While fluidity is seen in relating to other individuals, the attachment styles remain relatively constant. Research findings reveal that those adults who had enjoyed encouragement, affection, warmth and empathy in their childhood years show greater likelihood to attach themselves securely to their primary figures and are less likely to be violent in their adulthood relationships (Beatty, 2013). While Margaret shows good social and communication skills that make her stronger and inclined to develop more secure adult relationship attachments, Claudia requires repeated attention and assurance, and being partnered with an individual who possesses a more independent personality, makes Claudia all the more prone to intimate abuse.

Lesbian or adult intimate / domestic violence may involve anything from verbal, emotional and psychological violence to sexual abuse and coercion. In this instance, intimate violence takes the shape of put downs and intimidation (Beatty, 2013). In this particular case, domestic violence stems from the controlling and coercive behavior of Margaret, and limits, directs as well as shapes the feelings, thoughts and actions of the partner.

Margaret also suffers from alcoholism, and the possible reasons why she resorts to alcohol dependence and abuse may be depression and stress, social isolation, self-medication, physical and verbal abuse. Stress comes in the form of internal or external events which an individual finds too difficult to endure, and may lead to physical or psychological problems. Lesbians such as Margaret suffer from increased stress as a result of the negative attitude of society towards their sexual inclinations. This stress then relates to alcohol consumption and drug abuse in lesbians. Homosexual women can be seen to be highly prone to stress, as well as, likely to have negative experiences with regards to their sexual leanings. Thus, lesbians, in this instance, Margaret turns to substance abuse for self-medication and suppressing of depression and stress. She uses alcohol to defend her homosexual orientation to avoid any embarrassment that she may experience regarding her sexuality. Alcoholism also gives the opportunity to gain acceptance from others, and being inebriated can offer a satisfactory explanation for the individual's homosexual behavior.

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Social isolation is greatly experienced by many homosexual women, and this contributes towards the increasing alcohol abuse problem as seen in Margaret. The bid to hide one's sexual leanings results in increased isolation and loneliness; mainstream society shuns homosexuals, thus they feel isolated. Hence, through consumption of alcohol, Margaret gains special opportunities to interact with society and experience human contact; this positively reinforces, and increases the frequency of, substance use. Apart from this social isolation associated with lesbians, Margaret also lives in fear of being an object of verbal and physical abuse, owing to her sexual inclinations. Lesbians have to cope with isolation, rejection, violence and harassment, and this increases the risk of the development of problematic behaviors. This can be seen in the abusive manner in which Margaret behaves towards Claudia. Every one of these stress-causing factors faced by homosexual women creates a history that influences their interpretation of the world (Substance abuse and dependence within the gay/lesbian community, 2008).

Child abuse includes physical, psychological/emotional or sexual aggression, in addition to being exposed to domestic abuse. These can be both verbal as well as non-verbal behavior towards juveniles (less than 17 years of age). Psychological or emotional abuse that causes harm to a child includes threats, words, isolation, intimidation, control, or jealousy. Unsupportive behavior, non-encouragement of goals and dreams and disrespect of another individual's feelings, in this instance, implies psychological or emotional abuse in children.

Question 2: A possible treatment plan for this family including the children

Solution focused therapy

SFBT is different from traditional therapy in that the traditional treatment technique lays greater emphasis on exploration of problematic feelings, behaviors, cognitions and interaction, confrontation, providing interpretations and education of clients. The competency-based SFBT model, in this instance, gives lesser importance to past problems and failings, focusing instead on the previous successes and strengths of the clients. Focus is given to working from the interpretation of the client regarding their situation/concern and the change wanted by the client (Trepper et. al, 2008).

Solution-Focused Therapeutic Process

This therapy uses the same procedure irrespective of what concern/situation is brought by every individual client to the therapy. This approach lays stress on how individual clients change, instead of focusing on diagnosis and treatment of problems. It adopts the language of change, with the trademark questions put forth in SFBT interviews aimed at setting up of a therapeutic procedure wherein specialists listen and absorb meanings and words of clients with regards to what is significant to clients, their wants and their related successes; later, they formulate and put forth the succeeding question by way of connecting to the phrases and key word of clients. Therapists continue listening and absorbing the clients' answers from their reference frame, and yet again frame and put forth the following question by a similar connection to the response given by the client. This ongoing process of listening and absorbing, and then connecting and absorbing further client response allows the therapist and client to co-construct new, altered meanings and build towards a solution (Trepper et. al, 2008).

General elements of Solution Focused Brief Therapy

SFBT mainly comprises of conversations. There are 3 major general ingredients in SFBT conversations. First come the overall issues; SFBT conversations mainly focus on clients' concerns- who the clients are and what is important to them, visualization of a desired future, the clients' strengths, resources and exceptions relating to the vision, enhancing clients' motivation levels and their confidence in obtaining solutions, and a continuous client- progress scaling towards reaching the desired future. Secondly, as indicated previously, solution focused conversations comprise a therapeutic procedure entailing co-construction of new or altered meanings in the clients. The process sets into motion by therapists questioning clients using SF questions regarding the conversation topics mentioned in the preceding paragraph; they then connect to and build from resulting meanings which are expressed by the clients. Thirdly, therapists make use of several specific questioning and responding techniques which encourage the clients in co-constructing a favored future vision, and use their past successes, resources and strengths to convert that vision into a reality (Trepper et. al, 2008).

Goal Setting and Subsequent Therapy

One of the main components of SFBT is setting of concrete, realistic and specific goals. These goals are framed and improved through the SF conversation regarding what future differences the client wants. Thus, it is the client who sets the goals in SFBT. Once the initial formulation is prepared, the therapy emphasizes….....

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