Mariana's Behavior: Individual vs. Systems Approach

1. Individual vs. Systems- An individual assessment of Mariana’s behavior would focus on her symptoms of anger, acting out and suicidal threats. A social worker operating in an individualist approach would work on helping Mariana cope with her anger/ impulses and set personal goals to communicate better with her family. However, a systematic assessment of the presenting problems would focus on the dynamics in the family and the ways that recent events have affected the functioning of the family system as a whole. A social worker operating in a systems approach is going to work on the way the members of this family interact and what the roles/ rules are for each member.

Linear Causality is the idea that one event or behavior directly affects

Family Life Cycle: In general the blended family is almost simultaneously in Coupling (with Selma and Antonio still navigating their relationship as newlyweds and new parents) as well as Expansion (with children with ages ranging from 16 to 10). Each parent was in expansion prior to the loss of their partner. Each side might have been dealing with different challenges, which were then combined when they combined their families. Selma and Antonio are trying to navigate the Coupling challenges of forming a stable marital unit and Balancing needs and expectations of self and partner while also facing the Expansion Challenges of loss of control and adolescent rebellion. Divorce Family Cycle: Selma seems to have navigated the divorce cycle fairly successfully. She would have been in a post-divorce stage (custodial household) when she met Antonio. Selma doesn’t seem to have to deal with visitation or co-parenting. However, this might have exacerbated her financial and social strain. Death Family Cycle: Antonio seems to have pushed his family through the Mourning and Readjustment stages. It seems that the family was trying to navigate the Readjustment stage when Antonio introduced Selma and merged the families. I would suspect that Mariana is still in the mourning stage. There was no successful Renewal and Accomplishment before the trust into a blended family. Remarried Family Cycle: I would venture to say that Selma and Antonio moved quickly into Planning new Marriage and Family and did not do enough work in the Entering New Relationship Stage. Antonio still seems affected by the loss of his first wife. The whole family seems to be struggling to adjust to new roles, boundaries and emotional issues. They will have to resolve these issues if they hope to achieve Reconstitution of