Family Therapy An Overview by Herbert Goldenberg (z-lib.org)

Effective organization of resources, flexibility, openness to change, and connection among members.

Evolved rules, assigned roles, organized power structure, and forms of communication.

It has become more fluid due to high divorce and remarriage rates.

Men's careers and personal interests are prioritized, they do less household work, and have major influence in family decisions.

A consistent and positive belief system that provides shared values and assumptions.

Rules that outline and allocate the roles and functions of its members.

By telling and retelling their family 'story' from one generation to the next.

It is alien to the vast majority of people today and there is doubt about whether it ever existed.

Balancing work and nonwork tasks with two working adults.

Stable, collaborative, purposeful, and recurring patterns of interactive sequences.

Poverty, migration challenges, serious health problems, legal issues, and unforeseen accidents.

To return to New Orleans better prepared as a family to deal with future adversity.

A white, suburban family with a sole-provider father and a stay-at-home mother dedicated to child-rearing.

Through anger, attacking the outside world, or withdrawing from it.

They represent subtle, coded transactions that transmit family rules and functions.

It now includes committed households beyond legally married couples, such as informal kinship adoptions and diverse living arrangements.

Anger can be a healthy response and can facilitate coping.

The visible impact of working mothers, single-parent households, dual-earner families, and same-sex couples.

Males and females grow up with different senses of entitlement, power, and life experiences.

They have become less clearly defined, with families seeking more flexible patterns for living together harmoniously.

They now spend less time on child care and household tasks.

Job dislocation or loss, divorce, death of a key member, a sudden acute illness.

Time pressures, juggling work and family obligations, and deciding who takes time off to care for a sick child.

By receiving community support and social assistance.

Balancing intergenerational continuity and change, clarity in communication, and respecting individual differences.

To attend to the family’s resources that can be mobilized to deal with crises, rather than focusing on deficits.

By linking them to the past and providing a sense of family history and rootedness.

Contemporary life includes diverse family structures and living arrangements that differ from traditional norms.

Families have the potential for growth and repair, emerging stronger and more resourceful than before.

It encourages the realization of individual potential while providing freedom for exploration and a sense of security.

Spirituality serves as an affirming belief system that contributes to family recovery.

Clear, consistent, and congruent communication that fosters mutual trust and open expression.

Promoting positive relationships among members and attending to personal needs.

Symbolic actions that help families adapt to change and ensure family identity and continuity.

Understanding the interactions between growth and change in families and individual members.

Those with egalitarian attitudes benefit more from combining work and family roles than those with traditional views.

Value systems, personality characteristics, roles, and attitudes toward sexuality.

Shared assumptions and family narratives that help them adapt and cope with life changes.

Moving away from searching for deficits or pathology to seeking strengths and potentials—family resiliencies.

Increased employment of women and the feminist movement have raised awareness of gender inequalities.

Family membership remains intact for life, even with physical separation or death.

They are resistant to change and engage in corrective maneuvers to reestablish familiar interactive patterns.

They can lead to family instability as couples navigate differences in their views on gender roles.

Race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, and social class.

It aids the process of recovery and adaptation to stress.

Love, affection, mutual commitment, companionship, socialization, and fulfillment of intangible needs.

Adapt to the changing needs and demands of fellow family members and the larger kinship network.

Cognitive and self-regulating skills, a positive view of oneself, and motivation to be effective in the environment.

'Enabled' families balance system needs while facilitating individual interests, whereas 'disabled' families may prioritize certain members at the expense of others.

Orientation, religious affiliation, physical and mental health, educational attainment, and family values and belief systems.

By reorganizing to develop their own special styles.

A natural, sustained social system with evolved rules and roles.

Co-parenting may continue, and the former marriage is recognized with the designation of 'ex-spouse'.

By using culturally sensitive interventions and respecting different cultural perspectives.

They should not be viewed as vulnerable victims but as families with competencies that can promote self-corrective changes.

He may resent caregiving and feel he gains little from his role as a father.

Because it is strengths-based and facilitates resilience.

External social forces, including gender and cultural diversity.

They construct a rationale for why undesirable behavior continues and believe they have no alternative but to live with it.

It varies among different groups and can impact family functioning and access to resources.

Early death of a parent or abandonment by a breadwinner.

They retained their belief in overcoming challenges together and reassessed their priorities.

Rootedness, intimacy, support, and meaning.

Family members have unique personal and emotional ties that cannot be replicated by substitutes.

Forming new friendships, retaining a sense of humor, and viewing their crisis as a challenge.

They shape beliefs and stories that inform judgments about experiences.

For example, Italians include extended family in their definition, while African Americans may include a wide network of kin and friends.

They may require specific attention and support in the aftermath of trauma.

It deepens the family bond and strengthens confidence in managing future adversities.

Early in life for both males and females.

The ability of a family to thrive and maintain stable psychological and physical functioning even under adverse conditions.

Some families may experience prolonged distress, while others cope quickly and move on to the next challenge.

She began to recognize the satisfactions that came with her new role.

Durable, reciprocal, multigenerational emotional attachments and loyalties.

By helping members feel their self-worth, dignity, and purpose, and providing a sense of control over their lives.

Families are embedded in a community and shaped by historical and social phenomena.

Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family life cycle stage, and immigration status.

They vary for different groups and impact how families function and support each other.

They permit various tasks to be performed effectively within the family system.

Family processes may mediate recovery, buffer stress, reduce dysfunction, and support optimal adaptation.

The unfolding narratives of the families with whom they work.

Cultural factors play a central role in understanding family life, influencing values, rituals, and definitions of family.

They often feel isolated and defeated, with limited contact with extended family.

They help explain or justify the family's structure and interactive patterns.

It forms the basis for deep, multilayered relationships among family members.

Learning reinforced by society and cultural stereotypes.

Ethnic, racial, or religious heritage, as well as socioeconomic position.

To increase their flexibility and effectiveness in providing therapy to diverse families.

They may change in intensity and psychological distance over time but persist throughout the family's lifetime.

Resilience is not a rare quality but arises from ordinary adaptive processes that most children master during development.

Reality is a collectively agreed-upon set of constructions created through language and knowledge that the family calls reality.

Disasters requiring relocation may fragment kin networks, upsetting traditional support mechanisms.

The process of adapting to a new culture, which can affect family roles and functioning.

Families face expectable strains like retirement or divorce, and sudden crises like job loss or the death of a key member.

Roles such as 'brother is the smart one,' 'sister is the athlete,' or 'father is the depressed one.'

They can limit what members consider possible, acceptable, or attainable.

Losses such as a home, job, or family members can impact how a family values itself.

It can be a significant factor in how families value achievement and success.

They influence the family's appreciation and understanding of itself.

As trustworthy, orderly, predictable, and masterable.

They band together, insist on agreement from all members, and protect against threats.