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104 Cards in this Set

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Family Systems: Open systems consist of 3 aspects...
1)Allows new information
2)Preferable to closed ones
3)Allow situations to be seen from different perspectives
Allows and prefers
FS: Closed Systems
1)Having varying degrees of inner circles
2)Those outside the system completely are viewed as having nothing to contribute (e.g., they wouldn’t understand “the way we do things”).
Family Structure:
=invisible set of functional demands that organize the ways in which family members interact.
Transactional patterns:
=repeated transactions establish patterns of how, when, and to whom to relate.
3 Aspects of Boundaries:
A.Rules defining in a system who participates, how and when.
B.Determines the system’s sub-systems (i.e., each family structure)
C.Continuum ranges from enmeshed to disengaged
Aspects of A Lack of Boundaries: (5)
A.All individuals need boundaries.
B.The absence of boundaries produces unclear limits in terms of what others may or may not say or do to a person.
C.Without boundaries, abuse can easily occur.
D.Families often have no boundaries in some areas and rigid boundaries in others.
E.Without boundaries, humans are unable to emotionally relate to others or set reasonable limits on others (does Fromm’s Escape From Freedom ring a bell here?)
=individuals belong to different subsystems, with different levels of power and skills.
power, skills
Lack of Differentiation: (4)
A.Autonomy is important for all individuals.
B.Autonomy represents the degree of independence that an individual needs to function apart from others in a system.
C.Fusion is the absence of differentiation.
D.Lack of differentiation leads to enmeshment with others.
Mystification (def.)=
=process that occurs when one or more family members fail to understand the meaning and/or purpose of communication from another member, especially a parent.
2 aspects of Mystification-
A.The communication received is often deliberately vague.
B.The vague communication places the mystified person in an inferior position.
Triangulation (def.)=
=occurs when a third person is brought into a dyadic relationship to de-intensify a dispute between two people (generally the parents).
3rd person
3 aspects of Triangulation=
A.Communication occurs through a third person.
B.The third person often hears negative comments about the individuals involved in the dispute.
C.When triangulation occurs, two people need to be communicating directly, but enmesh a third person so as to avoid any direct communication.
negative communication
The Elephant in the Room:
=the problem that no one wants/dares to talk about.
4 Aspects of Elephant=
A.Problem is clearly visible to all involved.
B.Fear of retaliation or negative consequences and shame often keep individual from discussing the problem.
C.Self-blame is common.
D.Enablers continue to allow the problem to exist and avoid discussion.
A.Families often scapegoat one individual for all of the family’s problems.
B.The person scapegoated may have difficulties, but is unduly blamed as he/she is often displaying the symptoms of an unhealthy family environment or have a bona-fide illness.
C.Scapegoating rarely takes into consideration any other factors. Ex: “Drinking is a conflict area where the couple can complain about each other endlessly with no demand for change… Through the years Lars’ drinking has become the ‘cause’ of the family problems. This fixing of causality on the behavior of one person blurs the nature of the other family transactions.”
family's problems
-Developmental changes within a family requiring alteration of boundaries. When adaptation does not occur it results in dysfunction
alteration of boundaries
-a deviation from the healthy or normal. It occurs when one of the following occurs:
Dysfunction happens when:
A. Rigid, diffuse or unclear boundaries, coalitions formed against third party.
B. Coalitions cross generational boundaries.
C.Denied or concealed coalitions
Goal of Structural Family Therapy:
=to facilitate differentiation of family members that will lead to healthier family systems.
Goal of Strategic Family Therapy:
=to change undesirable family interactive patterns.
Goal of Transgenerational Family Therapy
Explain Bowen’s “differentiation of self”
Families and other social groups tremendously affect how people think, feel, and act, but individuals vary in their susceptibility to a "group think" and groups vary in the amount of pressure they exert for conformity. These differences between individuals and between groups reflect differences in people's levels of differentiation of self.
Explain Bowen's Triangulation=
=a three-person relationship system. It is considered the building block or "molecule" of larger emotional systems because a triangle is the smallest stable relationship system. A two-person system is unstable because it tolerates little tension before involving a third person. A triangle can contain much more tension without involving another person because the tension can shift around three relationships. If the tension is too high for one triangle to contain, it spreads to a series of "interlocking" triangles.
What are the values of genograms in working with a family? How might you use a genogram in working with a family?
Drive Theory- (def.)
Human behavior is governed by instincts: organic motivational forces or “drives” most commonly known as “sex and aggression.”
Sexual aggression
Drive Theory's view of SEX-
-perpetuating of life, conceptually = “moving toward,” a.k.a. libido.
Drive's Theory's view of aggression-
-avoiding of death, conceptually = “moving away,” a.k.a. Thanatos, or “death drive,” the drive to protect one self from non-existence, rather than just to extend the species.
According to Freud,behavior is oriented toward...
...pleasure. Pleasure principle – humans are pleasure-seeking creatures)
The personality consists of three parts
id, ego, superego
Anxiety arises from...
...the conflicts between the id, ego, and superego.
Freud conceptualized three levels of awareness which are:
conscious, subconscious, and unconscious.
Freud hypothesized five Psychosexual Stages of Development:
1)Oral, 2) Anal, 3) Pallic,
4)Latency, 5)genital
Freud hypothesized nine Defense Mechanisms:
repression, denial, introjection, projection, displacement, reaction,regression, identification, rationalization, compensation
EGO (def.)-
-decision-making component of personality, a.k.a. “referee.”
Ego develops when-
an infant realizes that he/she does not always get what he/she wants (but develops after id)
Ego is both...
conscious and unconscious
Ego operates according to the reality principle, which is...
seeks to delay gratification of the id's urges until appropriate outlets are identified
Ego engages in secondary process thinking
-which is relatively rational and oriented toward problem solving
The Ego attempts to...
-referee or appease the demands of both the id and the superego; mediates between the id and the norms of the external social world
Freud labeled sexual urge as...
Eros, which is fueled by psychic energy which is labeled as libido.
Sex is a big determinate of...
personality development, even among children.
Personality development is...
is psychosexual in nature
Over or under indulgence leads to ...
FIXATION at a stage, which means the child has arrested development on a type of pleasure
ORAL (birth—one year) focus on ...
-pleasure through feeding. Normal development depends upon oral gratification. Insufficient or excessive gratification at any stage could lead to fixation, development of personality characteristics typical of the fixated stage. Fixation at the oral stage results in issues surrounding food, smoking, etc.
ANAL (one—three years) focus on ...
pleasure through retention and excrement. Second year of life, gratification is obtained through body waste elimination. Normal development entails child gaining voluntary control re: this elimination process. Fixation results in anal-retentiveness or anal-aggression
PHALLIC (three—six years) pleasure sought through ...
genitals/genital stimulation, initial awareness of sexuality, sexual attraction for opposite parent
Oedipus Complex: Freud’s term for ...
boys’ attraction to their mothers and unconscious desire to slay their fathers, a.k.a. “castration anxiety.”
Electra Complex: Freud’s term for ...
-girls’ attraction to their fathers and unconscious desire to slay their mothers, a.k.a. “penis envy.”
Oedipus/Electra complexes typically resolved by ...
age 5-6 through identification with same-sex parent and repression of attraction to opposite-sex parent
LATENT (six—eleven years) passive stage in which...
sexual interest becomes inactive, sexual desires have become repressed through the resolution of the Oedipal and Electra complexes. Instead, sexual interest is being sublimated into more acceptable activities, i.e., schoolwork, sports, etc…
GENITAL (eleven years on) beginning of ...
sexual capacity (puberty), renewed interest in pleasure through genitals. Sexual feelings re-emerge toward opposite-sex parent and are displaced to appropriate member of opposite-sex due to the incest taboo. Freud considered sexual activity other than heterosexual intercourse the result from pregenital fixations.
Repression involves keeping ...
thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.
2 components of Repression...
…most basic and widely used defense mechanism…a form of “motivated forgetting,” a.k.a. “selective perception.”
Denial is the refusal to...
-believe any information about the situation or one’s behavior and feelings that provoke anxiety.
Introjection is the acceptance of ...
another’s values as one’s own, i.e., a patient wondering how primary “object” or caregiver would respond to a certain dilemma and imagining his/her response.
Projection involves attributing one’s own ...
thoughts, feelings, or motives to another
Displacement involves ...
diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target.
Reaction Formation involves...
behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one’s true feelings.
Regression involves...
a reversion to immature patterns of behavior
Identification involves ...
bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group
Sublimation is...
re-channeling unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities.
Rationalization involves creating ...
false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.
Compensation is an attempt to...
“make up for,” or compensate for patient’s perceived weakness of self by strongly submitting positive traits
In what way is the notion of the unconscious one of Freud’s most significant discoveries?
They are the keys to understanding behavior and problems of personality.
What are the implications of this concept for clinical practice?
Unconscious processes are at the root of all forms of neurotic symptoms and behaviors. A cure is based on uncovering the meaning of symptoms, the causes of behavior, and the repressed materials that interfere with healthy functioning.
How is anxiety explained from a psychoanalytic view?
? is a signal or warning that something really overwhelmingly awful is just about to happen and you had better do something about it quickly if you are to survive physically and mentally
What importance does early development play in Freudian psychoanalysis?
It is within the first years (1-6), that we develop three areas of personal and social development, love and trust, dealing with negative feelings, and developing a positive acceptance of sexuality. This period is the foundation on which later personality development is built.
What is the importance in Erikson’s psychosocial perspective?
Erikson built on Freud's ideas and extended them by stressing the psychosocial aspects of debelopment beyond early childhood. Psychosocial growth and psychosexual growth take place together. We face the task of stablishing equilibrium between ourselbes and our social world.
To what extent do you think that our first six years of life determines our later personality structure?
It has a significant place. If a child is neglected of their basic needs during this time (Maslow) or is abused in any way, then I can see this as being very determinate of how his/her life will play out.
(Adler's) striving for significance and superiority; style of life
Striving for perfection (superiority) and coping with inferiority by seeking mastery are innate. Superiority means moving from a perceived lower position to a perceived higher position, from a felt minus to a felt plus.
(Adler's) childhood experiences
-unique style is created primarily during first 6 years of life. Experience in themselves are not the determing factor, it's how we interpret the events that shape our personality.
(Adler's) fictional finalism
-an imagined central goal that guides a person's behavior. When the fictional vision of ourselves as perfect or complete begins to form into a life goal.
(Adler's)birth order and sibling relationships
Five psychological positions: 1)oldest:receives good deal of attention, dependable, hard working, newcomer will rob the attention from her,2) second of only two: shares the attention, competetive struggle, find's the elder child's weak points to win praise, 3)middle: "poor me" and could become problem child, could feel cheated, peacemaker, 4)youngest:tend to go their own way, most pampered, and 5)only: not learn to share or cooperate, similar characteristics of oldest, deals with adults well,pampered.
(Adler's) subjective perception of reality
Approach is phenomenological in that it pays attention to the individual way in which people perceive their world. The subjective reality includes the individual's perceptions, thoughts, feelings, values, beliefs, convictions, and conclusions.
(Adler's) purposefulness of behavior
-we can only think, feel, and act in relation to our perception of our goal. We can be fully understood only in light of knowing th purposes and goals toward which we are striving. Interested in the future.
(Adler's) faulty assumptions
-Faluty interpretation may lead to mistaken notions in our private logic, which will significantly influence present behavior. We can modify the faulty assumptions when we become aware of them. Consciously create a new style of life.
How is Adler’s view of human nature different from Freud’s?
Adler: stresses choice and responsibility, meaning in life, and the striving for success, completion, and perfection, inferiority feelings (which is motivating). HAve the capacity to interpret and create events. Freud: determined soley by heredity and biology, life is determined for us
What importance does Adler give to the role of childhood experiences in terms of adult life?
Discuss Adler’s concept of style of life.
-is the connecting theme that unifies all our actions, and our lifestyle consists of all our values and perceptions regarding self, others, and life. It is the characteristic way we move toward our life goal.
What is the Adlerian view of the client/therapist relationship? How does this differ from the classical psychoanalytic view?
-It is between equals based on cooperation, mutual trust, respect, confidence and alignment of goals. Collaborative!!! includes forming a relationship based on mutual respect and identifying, exploring, and disclosing mistaken goals and faulty assumptions within the person's style of living. Develop the client's sense of belonging and to assist in the adoption of behaviors and processes characterized by community feeling and social interest. Clients are discouraged. Reeducate clients so they can be equals in society. Encouragement! Courage!
Know the four phases of the Adlerian therapeutic process:
1)Establishing the Relationship
2)Exploring the Individual's Dynamics
3)Encouraging Self-Understanding and Insight
4)Helping with Reorientation
How are the client’s dynamics understood and explored via the family constellation and early recollections?
It's important to make a comprehensive assessment of the client's functioning through a questionnaire of the client's family constellation (parents, siblings, and others living in the home). Gives a picture of the individual's early social world: clients' major areas of success and failure and the role assumed in the world.
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS: Diagnostic tool. -single incidents from childhood that we are able to reexperience. Reflect current convictions, evaluations, attitudes, and biases
What is the use of assessing the client’s priorities?
-is used for understanding interactional coping. There are 4 priorities:
superiority, control, comfort, and pleasing.
Enable the client to recognize the feelings he or she evokes in others and the price the client pays for clinging to a number one priority.
How is encouragement basic to this process (client's priorities)?
Encouragement is important as people consider change in their lives. "To build courage". Courage develops when people become aware of their strengths, they feel they belong and are not alone, and they have a sense of hope and can see new possibilities for themselves and their daily living.
What role does insight play in therapy (Adler)? How is interpretation a way to facilitate this process of gaining insight?
-insight is an understanding of the motivations that operate in a client's life. it is a special form of awareness that facilitates a meaningful understanding within the therapeutic relationship and acts as a foundation for change.-interpretations gains insight b/c it is focused on the here-and-now behavior and on the expectations and anticipations that arise from one's intentions. -concerned with creating awareness of one's direction in life, one's goals and purposes, one's private logic and how it works, and one's current behavior.
What are the main tasks of the action-oriented phase, known as reorientation (Adler)?
-to be reoriented to a more useful side of life (which involves a sens of belonging and being valued, having an interest in others and thier welfare, courage)
-a sense of humor, outgoing friendliness, willingness to contribute, acceptance of imperfection.
basic mistakes (adler)
Lifestyle can be conceived of as a personal mythologt. people behave as if the myths were true b/c for them they are true.
2)False or impossible goals
3)Misperceptions of life and life's demands
4)Minimization or denial of one's basic worth
5)Faulty values
Jung's Veiw of Person/Environment?
-opened a window for Nurture
-the ultimate goal of treatment as increasing patients’ self-respect, self-knowledge, even self-actualization.
According to Jung, the psyche consists of ...
spirit, soul, and idea
Jung's collective conscious is(3)...
1)hidden psychic resource shared by humans
2)basic motif across individuals including cultures, in their dreams,and fantasies
3)images are shared by all, but motified by personal experiences.
Jung's Archetype Description:(3)
A.Organizing principle
B.System of readiness
C.Dynamic nucleus of energy
Types of Archetypes: (7)
A.Heroic Quest
B.Night Sea Journey
C.Inner Child
D.Divine Child
E.Maiden, Mother, and Goddess
F.Wise Old Man
G.Wild Man
Complexes are to personal unconscious as...
archetypes are to collective unconscious
According to Jungian Theory our understanding of ourselves comes from ...
encounters with social reality and what we deduce from our own observations.
Jung built on Freud’s conscious vs. unconscious theory and added his own conceptualization that ...
unconscious is further divided into two elements: the personal unconscious (which is what Freud focused on when using the word unconscious) and the collective unconscious
(Jung) An unattended shadow grows as a result of ...
-rejecting parts of one’s personality and squelching them into personal unconsciousness,
(Jung) Lack of individuation and remaining in a state of primordial fusion with primary caregiver keeps...
the caregiver in role of vacillating between “all good,” and “all bad.”
(JUNG) Defense mechanisms are the psyche’s attempts to...
survive complexes; and these defense mechanisms become pathological when an individual becomes stuck/fixated in the defense.
(Jung) Lack of integration of opposites..
These opposites engage in active struggle and personality development takes place through the tension this conflict produces in the psyche.
(JUNG) Dissociation between conscious and unconscious content reflects..
the intensity of the disturbance and the amount of pathology.”.
Jung's Four Tenets of Psychotherapy:
1.The psyche is a self-regulating system.
2.The unconscious has a creative and compensatory component.
3.The doctor-patient relationship plays a major role in facilitating self-awareness and healing.
4.And personality growth takes place at many stages over the life-span.
animus and anima represent-
biological and psychological aspects of masculinity and feniminity, which are thought ot coexist in both sexes
persona represetns-
public mask, that we wear to project ourselves as
Jung differs with Freud in beliefs of dreams in what ways?
Differs from Freud in fuctions. Dreams have two purposes. They are prospective (help peole prepare themselves for the expereinces and events they anticipate in the near future. They serve a compensatory function to bring aobout a balance between opposites in a person. A way to express!