Homeostasis In The Family Environment

Homeostasis is defined as a system that maintains or preserves balance in the family environment. In other words, homeostasis is seen as a conservation of the family systems to keep a balance within a family. Connor and his parent's struggle with the loss of his older brother Buck, who died in a boating accident. Faced with this loss, the family tries to regulate and maintain the system cohesion. However, due to the stressors related to Bucks death, the family struggles to communicate with each other, and the balance is disrupted within the family environment. Throughout the movie, Connor appears the most affected by the loss of his brother and has flashbacks about Buck’s death. He tries desperately to communicate with his parents about …show more content…
Connor’s mother seems to have a hard time dealing with his mental health issues and doesn’t play a role in his recovery efforts. Furthermore, she is not an active participant in this change process and prefers to keep family issues within the home environment. She prefers to keep things the way they are hoping maintain balance within the family. Connor's father appears to be more supportive in encouraging him to explore individual therapy. He often encourages his son to examine changes in his life that would make him feel better. “The changes to the family system structure are often slow and difficult to achieve. Thus, the force of homeostasis can be a major change frustration to family members striving to resolve presenting problems” (Hepworth, D., Rooney, R., Rooney, G., Strom-Gottfried, K. (2017). In this family, it is essential to understand the importance of homeostasis and how disruption has caused the family structure to break down. The relationship between Connor, his parents and each other has become strained due to a lack of positive feedback loops that would prevent a disruption in homeostasis. This family is in a constant state of adaption by internal stressors, and change will be difficult to obtain to return to a homeostasis state if the family does not adapt to a distinct unit to adapt in ways that preserve the integrity of the …show more content…
“Role theory, when applied to the family system, suggests that each person in family fulfills many roles that are integrated into the family’s structure, and that represent certain expected, permitted, or forbidden behaviors” (Hepwoth, D., Rooney, R., Rooney, G., Strom-Gottfried, K. (2017). Connor is the only child, and his role in the family is to attend school, get good grades, and participate on the school swim team. Connor’s role within the family is both learned and accrued set by the family values. In addition, he has learned the role of being a good student and son by following in his older brothers footsteps. Connor appears to struggle in his role at times as he is often conflicted because he feels he didn't do enough to save his brother’s life in the boating accident. “Roles, for the most part, are not static: instead, they can evolve as a result of family interactions. As a consequence, they often defy traditional stereotypical role behaviors. (Hepwoth, D., Rooney, R., Rooney, G., Strom-Gottfried, K. (2017). Connor’s mother appears to have a very rigid role within the family. She seems to have a hard time understanding and communicating her feelings towards her son and her husband. This could be related to her interactions with her mother who also seems to have a rigid role in the family dynamics. Connor’s mother is seen as having a “prescribed roled that is influenced by the