Incest and the Dysfunctional Family System

Incest and the Dysfunctional Family System

Titre de l'ensemble: Sexually Abused Children and their Families

This chapter discusses incest and the dysfunctional family system. Understanding the family as a system includes, but goes beyond, an individual model of diagnosis and treatment to focus also on the other family members and their context as well as on the feedback loops that connect them. In the systems model, the locus of pathology is the individual in context. A systems understanding includes not only the behavior of the family members but also their perceptions and memories that change over time as interactions occur. A healthy system is never static but rather is always changing and evolving. An incestuous family is one where the surface action of the family does not meet the needs of family members for nurturance, care, and warmth in an appropriate way relative to the maturity of those individuals.