"System" in Family Therapy

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2. In your own words, describe what a ‘system’ is, especially as it applies to a couple or family. After carefully reading James R. Bitter Chapter one, I can describe ‘system’ as it is especially applied to a couple or family as a social and or biological construct that is made up of a set of people who are related by blood. This family “system” functions because it is a unit and every member of the family plays a critical, if not unique, role in the system. As a result, if one of the members of this system changes, it can cause a ripple effect of change throughout the family system. Though in the process of growing up family members develop personal or individual identities, a person remains attached to the family group which in turn maintains an identity or collective image of its own. Family members do not live in isolation; they are rather interdependent on one another, not only for food or shelter or any material things but also for love, affection, companionship, socialization and other needs. Members in the family system interact in reciprocal relationship and they also relate to one another in the context of roles. Dr. Murray Bowen suggests in his Family System Theory that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their family, as the family is an emotional unit. Families are systems of interconnected individuals, none of whom can be understood in isolation from the system Ref. Bitter J. R (2009) Theory and Practice of Family Therapy and Counseling, Belmont, CA,
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