tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post5382568838135227347..comments2024-03-18T22:10:40.998-05:00Comments on Family Dysfunction and Mental Health Blog: Intrapsychic Conflict and Dysfunctional Family Patterns David M. Allen M.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-8123286791154755422014-12-07T08:00:07.203-06:002014-12-07T08:00:07.203-06:00A song getting a lot of airplay in my part of the ...A song getting a lot of airplay in my part of the world, is 'Take me to the Church' by Hozier, an Irish native.<br /><br />Powerful lyrics. It seems that the problematic factors of intergenerational and intra-psychic issues are entering mainstream popular culture.<br /><br />"Coming from Ireland, obviously, there's a bit of a cultural hangover from the influence of the church," he told the magazine. "You've got a lot of people walking around with a heavy weight in their hearts and a disappointment, and that shit carries from generation to generation. <br /><br />"So the song is just about that — it's an assertion of self, reclaiming humanity back for something that is the most natural and worthwhile. Electing, in this case a female, to choose a love who is worth loving."<br /><br />Quote sourced from independent.ie<br />Interview with Caitlin McBride<br />Meet the Bray Singer Cracking America<br />13/March/2014<br /><br />Roll Cage Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14154277038544171706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-91498653623121416372014-12-07T06:18:53.901-06:002014-12-07T06:18:53.901-06:00Altering one's parents' reactions is only ...Altering one's parents' reactions is only an option if a) the parents are not dead or b) they aren't completely incapable of facing the reality of their horrendous parenting. Narcissists who aren't even aware of the concept are going to be a tough, tough sell. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-40890831944478738862014-12-07T03:51:58.025-06:002014-12-07T03:51:58.025-06:00In the 1960s, one of my great uncles, after receiv...In the 1960s, one of my great uncles, after receiving an Imperial Service Order from the Queen, began to trace the family tree. No doubt looking for illustrious ancestors related to Royalty. I am the third generation to 'tend' the tree and with my background in psychotherapy methodology, I began to notice recurring patterns, repeating themes that united discrete family groups, yet there was/is an abruptio placentae motif which means the groups don't receive support or solidarity from each other. Distinct styles of self-isolation and self-imposed exile pop up like groundhogs.<br /><br />Embedded in the Australian psyche are the experiences of the wave of colonists who came out in the 19th century, leaving England as the Mother-land: they chose to come and entered a period of indentured servitude to work off the cost of passage. All my maternal ancestors were wage slaves.<br /><br />The quest for social role valorization has been lethal in some of the family groups. There has been a strong addiction to spectacle and I can see truth in the observation, 'the female is the deadliest of the species'.<br /><br />My earlier understanding of patriarchal power, which was informed by second wave feminism, has been turned on its head. <br /><br />The defense mechanisms and denial at my parent's generation were formidable. My generation is skilled at<br />disocciating and hiding the knives.<br /><br />Roll Cage Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14154277038544171706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-14453722202429534682014-12-05T09:08:28.487-06:002014-12-05T09:08:28.487-06:00Hi anonymous,
Good question.
Different schools ...Hi anonymous,<br /><br />Good question. <br /><br />Different schools of psychotherapy would answer that differently. <br /><br />In my view, it's the need to act out one side of the family conflict that is the issue, and the behavior of the family of origin members reinforces it in the individual. I always found that a patient's parents were far more powerful than a therapist could ever be in influencing my patients. The solution is for the patient to get the parents to alter their problematic behavior within the relationship with the patient (the patient cannot "change the parents" but they can change their own relationship with them. If you change your own responses consistently, it forces other family members to change their responses to you). This is a complex task which includes tracing the family history in regards to the issue over three generations (creating a genogram); coming to a preliminary hypothesis regarding the reasons for the conflict and why the parents behave as they do, and then designing a strategy, tailored to each individual in the family, for overcoming their defenses and denial regarding the issue so that the parties can discuss the dysfunctional patterns empathically with one another and agree on what to do about it..David M. Allen M.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-43702538426368160102014-12-05T05:07:33.519-06:002014-12-05T05:07:33.519-06:00Dr. Allen,
In your examples of subsequent generati...Dr. Allen,<br />In your examples of subsequent generations flipping their excessive behaviors, does therapy, any therapy, allow the patient to return to a baseline where the root of the behavior is corrected? Or is it always going to be more of a behavioral management process, that is to say, the patient would, for instance, perpetually manage their impetus to teetotaling, rather than eradicating the urge toward teetotaling fundamentally?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com