Individual Depression and Family-Systems

Tolstoy's (1970) observation that all happy families are alike and that each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way provides a means of setting out an endorsement of the family unit as the highest and best expression of human experience. The conflict created by Anna's elopement with Vronsky has its source in the fact of their violation of the integrity of the family structure. In great contrast to her cousin Levin, she forgoes the social protections of the family when she steps outside the familial structure to pursue emotional sustenance available from Vronsky, as she thinks, but not from Karenin. She also falls into a profound depression when emotional life with Vronsky cannot compensate for separation from polite society and from her son. But nothing about Anna's tragedy (it is the fate of her intensity of passion to be overlooked by the very men who love her) proves that she would have escaped depression or indeed tragedy had she remained faithful to Karenin and remained inside the Karenin family circle.

The possibility that an individual who is in a state of depression is also solely culpable in that depression has in

. . .
= self-esteem is low; high pot = self-esteem is high. Low pot would be the equivalent of depression. Self-esteem would vary directly with low and high pot. Thus an individual not suffering from depression but possessed of self-esteem would "own" his or her feelings and decisions, rather than feeling oppressed or not in control of them (Satir, 1975). But labeling the condition seems to be of less import to Satir than looking at the human behavior and emotion that allows the labels to reach meaning and that allows the human beings involved to obtain a sense of and empowered, self-reflective, congruent self who has options and who has the ability to make competent decisions about the self (McLendon, 2000). In Satir's view, the depressed individual would be suffering from low self-esteem, whether the context for the depression is the family or the world more generally. What is important about depression in the context of the family system, by Satir's logic, is that a family is uniquely positioned to offer individuals emotionally safe structures of experience--and uniquely powerful to amplify depression and low self-esteem. Thus the whole idea of Satir's theory of psychotherapeutic intervention in families is to work toward a situatio
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Carl Rogers, Indeed Bowen, Nichols Schwartz's, Nichols Schwartz, , Nor Satir's, Vronsky Karenin, Aronson McLendon, References Bowen, satir 1976, family system, depressed individual, nichols schwartz, individual's depression, nichols schwartz 2000, schwartz 2000, low pot, family unit, depression family, communication expression, Arts Satir, self-esteem low pot, = self-esteem low, pot = self-esteem, low pot =,
Approximate Word count = 2411
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Individual Depression and Family-Systems