chapter 3 - The Fundamental Concepts of Family Therapy A Whole New Way of Thinking about Human Behavior

Question 1

define cybernetics

Answer 1

study of feedback systems in self-regulating systems.

Question 2

how is cybernetcis seen in family systems

Answer 2

cybernetics applies to family systems due to the fact that family systems find stability by monitoring performance data.

Question 3

define feedback loop

Answer 3

how the system gets info to review and refine itself. similar to a bug report.

Question 4

define negative feedback

Answer 4

aspect that needs correcting and demonstrates that something is amiss.d

Question 5

define positive feedback

Answer 5

reinforces current standing of the system

Question 6

what is a runaway process

Answer 6

when an aspect of the system runs amok and is overused.

Question 7

what 4 things does the cybernetics of family therapy focus on

Answer 7

family rules
negative feedback
sequences of interaction (Feedback loops)
when a negative feedback triggers a positive feedback loop

Question 8

define self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 8

positive feedback loop example. when one’s concerns give rise to apprehension, thus causing a detrimental occurcen (proving itself by creating itself)

Question 9

define bandwagon effect

Answer 9

tendency of something to be suppported because it is gathering supports from other sources.

Question 10

how can you stop escalation of a feedback loop

Answer 10

disarmament (refusing to engage or continue in reciprocal reactive system)

Question 11

what does cybernetic thougth of family systems normally see th source of dysfunction

Answer 11

communication (causes inaccurate feedback loops)

Question 12

what creates the traits of a system

Answer 12

the relationships of the parts of the system (gestalt - the whole is graeter than the sum of its parts)

Question 13

what is the black box metaphor for systems theroy

Answer 13

focus uniquely on the input and output fo the system (cause and effect) and not the innner workings of the members of the system. Only looking at communication and behavior (observable functions of a system)

Question 14

define general systems theroy of BERTALANFFY

Answer 14

the famliy system is a part of other systems (exo and macrosystems) aka an OPEN system that is always interacting with other systems.

Question 15

what 2 things did systems theory not aaddress

Answer 15

family belief structure and cultural forces shaping those beliefs.

Question 16

what does constructivism say thur the personal construct theroy of Kelly

Answer 16

we construct our own environment and interpret things in such a way that guide our interactions.

Question 17

what technique does social constructivism find itself working in family therapy

Answer 17

reframing

Question 18

define reframing

Answer 18

relabeling a behavior to change how we respond to it.

Question 19

define social constructivism

Answer 19

our interpretation sof reality are based on our context at large

Question 20

define deconstruction

Answer 20

changing entrenched beliefs

Question 21

what is the core belief of solution focused therapy

Answer 21

look at what people are doing when they don’t have the issue (looks at exceptoins)

Question 22

what is the main tool of narrative therapy

Answer 22

externalization

Question 23

define externalization

Answer 23

reconstruction of seeing issues as detached parts of the person (not internalized)

Question 24

what are the 3 stages of separation from a child and a mother

Answer 24

protest, despair, detachment

Question 25

define secure attachment according to BOWLBY

Answer 25

basic security (doesn’t feel helpless or abandoned or alone) - confident in caregivers ability to care for them allows them to foster confidence in themselves.

Question 26

define insecure attachment according to BOWLBY

Answer 26

if parents are unavailble or unresponsive then child develops a shame of having needs (invalidate experience of wanting) and do not trust others to be able to validate or meet their needs.

Question 27

what are the 2 types of insecure attachment

Answer 27

anxious and avoidant

Question 28

what typically causes anxious insecure attachment

Answer 28

overly protective and intrustive parents

Question 29

how does insecure anxious attachment present

Answer 29

seek validation from others (hard time identifying their own emotions), cling to caregivers (see overprotection as the world is dangerous - simmilar to how the parent might see the world), become people pleasers. express fear of abandonment.

Question 30

what causes a person to become avoidance insecure attachment

Answer 30

unavailable parents.

Question 31

how does avoidant insecure attachment present

Answer 31

fear rejection so they cut self off from needs that continue to go unmet. Will become distant from others to not feel hurt by rejection.

Question 32

what pattern is seen with a couple that has one person that is anxious attachment and the other is avoidant

Answer 32

pursue/withdraw pattern

Question 33

define complementary

Answer 33

the fact that each half of a couple influnece one another’s behavior (e.g. ying to yang)

Question 34

define circular causality

Answer 34

issue ar ecaused by ongoing series of interactions and reactions therein. it is not just simple cause and effect, but a networking of potential responses.

Question 35

define process vs. content

Answer 35

how they say something vs. what htey say (why vs. what)

Question 36

define family structure

Answer 36

organization whereas interactions take place

Question 37

do interactions define structue or vice versa?

Answer 37

interactions initially design structure, but soon structure designs interactions.

Question 38

define subystems

Answer 38

gender, genderation, and function of a family system that help to organize it

Question 39

define boundaries

Answer 39

invisible barriers that limit how different subsystems interact (i.e. the subsystem of gender between parents is bound by having only the men take out the garbage)

Question 40

define disengagement

Answer 40

when boundaries are too strict. it creates for autonomy but no connectivity.

Question 41

define enmeshment

Answer 41

boundary issue. parents are loving but creates children that are too dependent (overly connective). trouble relating to othrs outside the system.

Question 42

are boundaries in systems reciprocal and interdepenent?

Answer 42

yes.

Question 43

define family life cycle patterns

Answer 43

ordered periods but not continuous.w family life cycles go through stages of calm and then stages of challenge that demand that we change to move through to the next stage and then return to calmness to consolidate the change.

Question 44

what 2 things does family life cycle allow us to see

Answer 44

systems must adapt to accommodate the growth of members, change for one means change for all.

Question 45

what are the 6 family life cycle stages

Answer 45

1- leaving home (Single young adults)
2- joining of families through marraige
3- families with young kids
4- kids become adolescents
5- lauching children and moving on
6- families in later life.
d

Question 46

describe the leaving home (Single young adult stage) x 4

Answer 46

accept personal responsbilities, see self as different from family of origin, develop intimate relations, establish identiy in relation to work and personal finances.

Question 47

describe the joing of families through marriage stage x3

Answer 47

create and commit to new system, make marital system, realign relations with extended families

Question 48

describe families with young kid stage x 4

Answer 48

accept new members, adjust marriage for kids, join in raising kids, realign extended familiy for child rearing

Question 49

describe the family with adolescents stage x 4

Answer 49

flex in bondaries to allow for kids growth and fraility of grandparents, more freedom for the kids, focus midlife marital issues, begin caring for older generation

Question 50

describe launching children and moving on stage x5

Answer 50

accept exits and entries into systems, renegotiate marriage as a dyad, build adult to adult relations with kids, rebuild relations to include in laws and grandkids, handle disabilities and deaths of grandparents

Question 51

describe families in later life stage x 5

Answer 51

accept new generational role, maintain marriage with changes in biology, support kids with own families, make room for wisdom of the elderly, deal with death of others

Question 52

what is the core concept of narrative family theray

Answer 52

we build a family narriatve that reinfroces certain points of the plot line and removes elements tha tdon’t fit.

Question 53

define neutrality

Answer 53

all parts of the system contrinbue equally to the problems that are present