Family Communication & Unpredictable Stress

Unpredictable Stress Unpredictable stresses are brought about by events or circumstances that disrupt life patterns but cannot be foreseen from either developmental or life course perspective. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Unpredictable Stress Unpredictable stresses can maximize the dialectical tensions between individual family members and others or between family members and its environment. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Strain That tension or difficulty sensed by family members, which indicates change is needed in their relationships and their family environment COM 3013 Tami Davis

Stressor Events Events characterized by their unexpectedness, their greater intensity, and longer duration, and their undesirability and serious effects. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Unpredictable Stress and Coping Stress involves a physiological response. Individuals or families under stress reflect this in physiological changes and anxiety as they attempt to cope. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Stressors Major stressors throw a family system out of its normal balance, and precipitate long-term change. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Coping Factors How well a family copes depends on several factors. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Coping Factors Family coping capacity is tied to four factors: Number of previous stressors the members faced Degree of role change involved coping Social support available Institutional support available COM 3013 Tami Davis

Resilience A family’s ability to “do well in the face of adversity.” COM 3013 Tami Davis

Family Stress All unpredictable stresses affect cohesion and adaptability and may modify boundaries, themes, images, and biosocial issues. A family with a high capacity for adaptation and above-average cohesion is likely to weather stressor events more easily than families who are rigid and fragmented. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Family Stress More adaptable families have the capacity to find alternative ways of relating and can adjust their communication behavior to encompass an event, but this is not easy. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Boundary Ambiguity Families with rigid boundaries may be unable to cope adequately when severe external stresses occur. Boundary ambiguity increases stress. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Boundary Ambiguity This term refers to the degree of uncertainty in family members' perceptions of who "belongs," who is expected to function in various roles, and how much openness there should be in the system to permit various outside resources to be used to deal with stress. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Family Stress Seemingly positive events can create great stress. On occasion, communication improves when the family deals with major crises. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Communication & Stress In some families, members use direct verbal messages to explore options, negotiate needs, express feelings, and reduce tension. In other families, the members' stress may be apparent through the nonverbal messages that indicate their anxiety and other feelings. Members constantly interpret others' verbal and nonverbal messages as part of the coping pattern. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Stages of Family Crisis In any serious crisis situation, a family goes through a definite process in handling the grief or chaos that results. Depending on the event, the stages may last from a few days to several months or years. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Stages of Family Crisis Yet, since no two families accept crisis in the same way, family systems are characterized by equifinality, which means each family will reach the final stages of the process in a variety of ways. COM 3013 Tami Davis

Stages of Family Crisis Although the stages usually follow one another, they may overlap, and some may be repeated a number of times. 1. Shock resulting in numbness, disbelief, or denial 2. Recoil stage resulting in anger, confusion, blaming, guilt, and bargaining 3. Depression 4. Reorganization resulting in acceptance and recovery (Kubler-Ross, 1970; Feifel, 1977; Mederer & Hill, 1983) COM 3013 Tami Davis

Coping Strategies Sequence Level Strategy 1 Change or adapt existing rules, ways of doing things, rearranging responsibilities to address the stress COM 3013 Tami Davis

Coping Strategies Sequence Level Strategy 2 Change metarules so that new areas of rules are created to address the stress COM 3013 Tami Davis

Coping Strategies Sequence Level Strategy 3 Change the basic assumptions about life; reorder the value structure to address stress. COM 3013 Tami Davis