The Cooper family consists of Susan (age 42), Matthew (age 41), Savannah (age 16) and Milton (age 9). The family dynamics interplay to create the crisis in this system. Savannah is in the process of developing an eating disorder and cutting as a means to deal with her intense emotions. The family’s value of perfectionism contributes to this development and creates chaos within all members of this system. Susan is an achievement orientated woman and spends long hours at work. She upholds unrealistic standards for her husband and children. Susan’s commitment to exceeding at her job position has led to problems in her relationships with her husband and children. The high standards set in place for herself and family members has created undue …show more content…
The issues affecting the Cooper family system consists of eating disorder, self-harming behavior, acting out behavior, sibling maltreatment, and martial discorded. The focal point of this system is Savannah’s eating concerns and her recent acting out behavior. They are unaware of how each member’s behavior is contributing to these identified issues. The theoretical perspective approach useful for analyzing this family is the family systems theory. This approach views individual problems in relationship to other family members and significant others within the social environment. The family system theory is easily amendable to include techniques from other theories including cognitive behavioral strategies to create the most effective treatment plan for the client systems. Unique Needs of the Members of the Family System Each member of the Cooper family of unique needs is relative as these are contributing to the dysfunctional structure of this system .Identified individual needs are an important component of developing a healthy family structure. The Cooper family must be aware of each other’s unique needs to enable the balance within the system to return to homo …show more content…
Their parents and caregivers continue to hold influence over this development, but noted differences are noted. Both children and adolescents are affected by technology advances and exposed to this on a daily basis. Media also shapes children and adolescents view their world. Media influences fashion defines beauty and encourage upholding the beliefs and values of the dominant culture. The noteworthy differences in modern youth culture are their need for immediate gratification, absence of long-term thinking about life and the world, expecting bail-outs with consequences and focusing on appearance rather than
According to smith and Hamon (2012), Families are considered as a whole in society. However, they believed that couples have many components in which makes up the family, if one component is missing, the family as a whole can get unbalance (Smith & Hamon, 2012). In the Brice’s family, communication was the component that was missing. The couple was not able to communicate their differences, which was what caused Carolyn and David to verbally insult each other. Smith and Hamon (2012), also explain that a person who expresses his or her feeling is considered as someone who is breaking the functions of their family system; especially if the person is focusing on the individual who is causing the problem, rather than the problem itself. In the Brice family, Carolyn could be considered the one that cause the dysfunction in the family structure because she was focusing on David as the problem of their marriage, rather than focusing of the elements that are causing their problems. Smith and Hamon (2012) explain that individuals should focus on how to solve a problem, rather than trying to find who is causing the
Susan Leigh Vaughan Smith was born September 26, 1971 in Union, South Carolina to Linda and Harry Vaughan. She was born the third child in the Vaughan family, with two older brothers. Linda Vaughan divorced Harry when Susan turned 7, and five weeks later Harry committed suicide at 37 (Montaldo). Within weeks of Linda and Harry’s divorce, Linda got remarried to Beverly (Bev) Russell, a local successful businessman. Linda and the children moved from their home into Bev’s, a larger house located in an exclusive subdivision in Union, South Carolina. Susan grew to be a well-liked teenager, and even became president of her Junior Civitan Club and Friendliest Female in her senior year (Montaldo). Everyone liked her, and she put on a great show at school. But after the last bell rang, she had to look forward to seeing Bev at home, something she feared above anything else. Bev had taken to molesting Susan when she turned sixteen, and it was not long afterward that she sought help with the local Department of Social Services (Wiki). The Department of Social services did little to help Susan, only making Bev attend a few counseling sessions (Wiki). When he returned home, he chastised Susan heavily for “airing their dirty laundry in public” and continued with the molestation (Montaldo). I believe thi...
The assessments that will be utilized for the Jacques family is observation, input from members of the interdisciplinary team, since the behaviors are not only at home within the family system, utilization of the Structural Family Systems Ratings measure (Kazdin, 1993; 1994). The observation phase should take place in the family home so that they will be as comfortable as possible. This will allow the counselor to observe the family in their own environment and the behaviors that occur when the family is together. The counselor should remain diligent in observing the interactions between all the family members as this could be indicative of their family system’s strengths and negative patterns of behavior (Thomlison, 2010).
Because of the large amount of overlap in assessing the given family from a structural and strategic point of view, only the differences and additional requirements will be described in the following section. The main areas of differences relate to the overall therapeutic focus and the discussion of power. From a strategic point of view, problems serve as a function therefore the differences in assessment will not focus on shifts in power or hierarchy but will assess what purpose each issue serves. Additionally, viewing the family from a strategic point of view, each problem mustn’t be addressed as its own entity but all issues/concerns can be traced back to the presenting problem. The assessment, therefore, becomes part of the therapeutic
Each person in the family starts to develop a job or rule that that play in the family that others can’t really fill. For example Jeannette and Brain’s relationship with each other are almost stronger than anyone in the family. The role that Brain plays is the one that is extremely quiet unless with his family and even though he is a younger sibling he sees it as his goal to protect Jeannette, even if it evolves fighting older bigger girls but if it’s for his family he will do it. Lori is always lost in a book but he is like the mother of the family even though their real mother is around. Their father is bright man that the kids get to see from time to time but then there alcoholic father appears and that’s when problems arise. When it comes to functioning at younger ages they were almost completely dependent on their parents like all kids are, as they started to reach teenage they started to rely less on their parents and more on each other. They started to get their own jobs, when they needed resources they would rather depend on each other or themselves. The communication was free for the kids if they had a question or a problem they would voice their concerns but the only time they didn’t was when they saw that their father was drinking or was drunk. They left the
Napier provides a crucial exploration of the therapy of a family struggling with battles for the structure of their family and battles to define and grow their relationships with one another. Napier and Whitaker seamlessly and purposely work with each family member, educating and
Today and always, family dynamics have played a vital role in personality development. In the book Speak, there are several instances where the book’s main character Melinda is constantly ignored or disappointed. Melinda converses with her parents through sticky notes on the refrigerator. Holidays are never a big deal to her family and when they try to celebrate, it gets ruined. In addition to everything else, Melinda’s parents constantly argue. The book Speak really demonstrates what can happen to a person when they don’t have their family present to help them through a rough time.
People are always in transition with their environment, and each subsystem has an impact on the whole system. This is also why I am using the Family Systems approach, as I am also able to see how the family system has affected Precious, and how the family has functioned across the lifespan. It is important because we can discuss boundaries, individual’s roles, communication in the family, the family structure and how this influences the families functioning not only with Precious’s Mother and Father, but with her own children as well. With systems theory and the Family Systems approach, the basis is that a Systems component can only be understood as part of the Whole, therefore when working with an individual such as Precious, all aspects of their personality and environment must be considered and worked with as a whole. (Payne,
Duty, G. (2010, December 10). Family Systems Therapy. Lecture presented at Principles of Counseling Class Notes, Bethany.
System Theory addresses individual needs, expectations, and attributes of the people living in the society. CognitiveBehavioral Theory focused on the mind, thoughts, feelings and emotion while system approach concentrates on the how the individual minds and thoughts function in the society. The Cognitive Behavioral Theory identifies patterns of irrational, self-destructive thought and action that influence emotions (Walsh, 2013). Both methods aimed to address dysfunctional behaviors and hope to ensure change on the individual and the family as a whole. The use of System Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Theory is to create a balance between the individual person and the family. Both methods serve as the therapeutic tool used in preserving the disparity within the family and treating individual mental health related problems (Kerr, 2000).For an individual to function effectively in society, the individual must be cognitively balanced. However, both approaches take into account individual’s functionality within the
Jennifer Egan’s use of structural classifications about Charlie’s role within her family displays the reason for Charlie’s
Therefore, family problems can have a great effect on the lives of the people within the family. Kaslik shows this by making Giselle and Holly’s verbal and physical fights, and their creation of imaginary friends. But in the end no matter how you deal with stress, whether by loss of appetite or jumping off a bridge, family is family, and they are always there for each other even if they feel like the family is separated.
According to Richard Charles (2001) “the effectiveness of family systems theory rests not much on empirical research but on clinical reports of positive treatment outcomes, the personal benefits experienced by the families that underwent this kind of treatment, and the elegance of Bowen’s theory” (p. 279). Bowen’s family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and is a theory of human behavior. Systems thinking is used to describe the complex interactions in the unit. However, the client’s ability to differentiate himself/herself from the family of origin is the basis for Bowen’s family systems theory. In addition, the primary focus for growth within the emotional system is differentiation of self.
Laura Tavares was born in 1995. Since the day she was brought into this world she was verbally abused by her mother. Being the first child, one would have thought, “she would be the most loved”. By the age of seven, there was a new baby in the house, Samuel. He was born premature, and aside from the verbal abuse, Laura started to get neglected. By age 10, she was obese and dressed like a middle aged woman. Her mother made sure that Laura knew her place as the slave in the family, waiting on Sammy hand and foot. Evidently Laura knew she was not the favorite, and she made it her goal to change that. She became a straight A student, and was know as the best dancer at our school. She lost weight, and got a job where she made over $1000 a week. Meanwhile cleaning a house that would outshine the sun if she cleaned it anymore, all to gain the love of her mother. “I need a mother”- She