Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace.
- Date:
- [1983], ©1983
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![18 Growth- Promoting Family Therapy Claude Guldner Families are dynamic systems composed of complex patterns of organization and structure. These patterns must continu¬ ally change in order to accommodate the needs of the individuals in the family system through the various phases of the family life cycle. The patterns must also adapt in order to meet the rapid and vast array of societal changes impinging upon families. In North American society there tends to be a pervading mythology about families, that they can be self-contained and self-sufficient in resources and in expertise in handling changes in ways that are beneficial for all involved. The spirit of rugged individualism of our pioneer past still influences families to want to do it ourselves and in our own way. The ability of North American families to use formal support struc¬ tures, apart from times of crisis, seems relatively low. Many families even experience difficulty in using informal support systems such as the extended family, friends, and neighborhood, or natural groups like the church or school. For a family to live amidst the complexities of the 1980s and to believe that it can function smoothly and adequately through all the stages of a family life cycle is to be either highly optimistic or naive. [231]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18037604_0234.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
