The family in the prompt is going through a lot of hard times, if a theorist was too look deeper into their situation they would find a lot of different ideas to help assist their circumstances better. I found that Family Systems Theory was a good theory to relate to this family, ideas such as the whole greater than the sum, locus of pathology, and all family members take on roles. These ideas help further explain how families, like the one in the prompt, function when they maybe dysfunctional. A basic assumption had with Family Systems Theory is that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”(Smith, 146) the idea that a family cannot function without its individual. Each member in a system (or family) has a role they must play
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Locus of pathology simply defined in the textbook means ‘the location of the problem’ meaning where the problem is found in the family system. From system theorist point of view the oldest daughter would not be to blame for the problem she has, but to take a look at the bigger picture and maybe it stemmed from her interaction within her family. But more importantly, Systems theory does not dwell on finding the source of the problem, “[they] focus on how to resole the problem, rather than being distracted by trying to find someone to punish for it”(Smith, 147). For the oldest daughter, who is dealing with an eating disorder, she will get the chance to stop the problem that may have originated because a chain of events that started generations ago. Since we can’t go back to tell her great-grand-father that he is at fault for the dysfunction in the family today, instead her and her family can attend therapy sessions to find a …show more content…
When members of the family don’t play their roles or take on new roles it can cause an imbalance in the families equilibrium, which leads to dysfunction. Roles such as the dependent, their role in the family to cause grief and being the one with the problem, this is the oldest daughter because she is the one in the family who was unable to cope with her struggles and hindered the family image by turning to bulimia. There is also the enabler (codependent) who helps the dependent to avoid the bigger problem they are creating, I saw this as the mother while she stayed up really late making sure the house was overly clean as well as focusing all of her time on other and not on her family. There is also the role of invisible child, they keep out of the spot light in hopes of lessening the tension, I thought this to be the middle sister who chose to block out all of her feelings and remain straight faced. And finally the role of scapegoat, this is the individual who turns to acting out in hopes to get some of the attention, this was seen in the youngest daughter while she would run away from home amongst other forms of rebellion. Every family member in a dysfunctional family has a role they play even if they don’t know
Locus of pathology simply defined in the textbook means ‘the location of the problem’ meaning where the problem is found in the family system. From system theorist point of view the oldest daughter would not be to blame for the problem she has, but to take a look at the bigger picture and maybe it stemmed from her interaction within her family. But more importantly, Systems theory does not dwell on finding the source of the problem, “[they] focus on how to resole the problem, rather than being distracted by trying to find someone to punish for it”(Smith, 147). For the oldest daughter, who is dealing with an eating disorder, she will get the chance to stop the problem that may have originated because a chain of events that started generations ago. Since we can’t go back to tell her great-grand-father that he is at fault for the dysfunction in the family today, instead her and her family can attend therapy sessions to find a …show more content…
When members of the family don’t play their roles or take on new roles it can cause an imbalance in the families equilibrium, which leads to dysfunction. Roles such as the dependent, their role in the family to cause grief and being the one with the problem, this is the oldest daughter because she is the one in the family who was unable to cope with her struggles and hindered the family image by turning to bulimia. There is also the enabler (codependent) who helps the dependent to avoid the bigger problem they are creating, I saw this as the mother while she stayed up really late making sure the house was overly clean as well as focusing all of her time on other and not on her family. There is also the role of invisible child, they keep out of the spot light in hopes of lessening the tension, I thought this to be the middle sister who chose to block out all of her feelings and remain straight faced. And finally the role of scapegoat, this is the individual who turns to acting out in hopes to get some of the attention, this was seen in the youngest daughter while she would run away from home amongst other forms of rebellion. Every family member in a dysfunctional family has a role they play even if they don’t know