A visit to a family psychologist helps to sort out thoughts, take a fresh look at yourself and family members. Diagnostics of families can solve many problems, help people overcome internal crises, learn to take responsibility for themselves, and adequately respond to others. Changing these patterns of thought and behavior is beneficial to relationships and creates a favorable climate for the development of all family members.
The main purpose of diagnosing a family is to evaluate the system of relationships within it in order to identify an imbalance that can destructively affect its members. The work can be aimed both at changing their habits and behavioral patterns, and at understanding the causes of conflict situations, developing a different point of view, the ability to perceive those moments that cannot be changed due to life circumstances.
Types of diagnostic techniques
Families are examined from different angles during diagnosispoints of view, focusing on different characteristics. Consider diagnostic methods by scope:
- psychological;
- clinical-psychological;
- socio-psychological;
- pedagogical;
- psychosemantic.
According to the form of conducting, diagnostic methods are presented in the form of a survey, testing, observation, experiment, sociometry, the method of sections, interviews, studying documents.
History of analysis of family relationships
The ancestor of all methods of studying family relationships is clinical diagnostics.
Psychological diagnosis of families began as part of a therapeutic activity that recognized the family as an important factor in the development of neurotic pathologies.
In Soviet times, special attention was paid to the role of man in society. For the purpose of social diagnostics of the family, several counseling psychological family centers were opened with the aim of reducing the divorce rate and increasing the birth rate.
Psychological methods were actively developed after the 90s, the first full-fledged publications on the psychology of families appeared, and training programs were introduced.
Diagnostic item
In family relationships, subsystems are distinguished: marital, child, parent-child, gender. Depending on the focus on a particular system, the subject of diagnostics may be as follows:
- family as a whole;
- marital relationship;
- parent-child relationship.
Not installedthe main criteria for diagnosing a family in the narrow sense of the word, suitable for all methods. Each method has its own subject of analysis, criteria and principles of implementation. At the same time, all methods are aimed at determining the level of comfort of the individual, psychological safety. To determine the current situation, the following main criteria for diagnosing a family are used, subject to further analysis:
- composition;
- living conditions;
- income;
- he alth;
- values;
- communication style.
Methods for studying the relationship of spouses
Spousal relationships have a huge impact on people's psychological he alth. At the same time, relationships are constantly evolving, transforming personalities.
The strongest transformational processes take place at 4-5 years of marriage. By this time, roles in the family are being formed, joint active recreation unites the spouses and fills them with harmony. By the age of 6-7 years of marriage, traditional role-playing relationships are formed, when a man is responsible for the material component, and a woman organizes everyday life, entertainment, and the general culture of the family. It was noticed that prosperous families are distinguished by a large participation of men in family affairs. In problem families, so much stress falls on the shoulders of a woman that she cannot stand it, as a result of which she develops neuroses, which affects the life of the entire unit of society.
The main reason for the discord in marital relations is the disharmony of the marital roles that have developed in the family. The generally accepted typology shares the following roles inmarried couple:
- material support of the family (the role implies ensuring a decent standard of living, earning money to meet the needs of family members);
- responsibility for the household (the role includes providing the family with the necessary resources: clean and comfortable living conditions for family members, catering);
- baby care (the role does not have a permanent scope of implementation, in most cases belongs to a woman);
- upbringing (the role includes the functions of socializing the child to a harmonious personality, an adequate member of society);
- partnership in sex (manifestation of sexual initiative);
- organization of entertainment (initiative regarding joint family leisure, vacations, interesting organization of leisure time for family members);
- storage of culture (development of common values, hobbies, preferences in the field of culture);
- maintaining contact with relatives (activity in the direction of communication, joint activities, leisure activities with other family members, mutual assistance);
- psychotherapy (role includes helping family members solve personal problems, providing support in difficult situations).
Traditionally, a man is responsible for the material we alth of family members. The husband is responsible for the quality of life of the family, the material opportunities available to children. The role of the hostess more often belongs to a woman, although recently partnerships have appeared more and more often, where the role of the host is divided equally between the spouses.
RoleThe tutor is divided equally between the spouses. The proportions of the educational impact depend on the specific family and the gender of the child. In the upbringing of a girl, a woman plays a key role, and a man takes a greater part in the development of a boy's personality.
The initiator of sexual behavior is considered to be a man, although in young families this role is supported by a woman, but with age, as a rule, it passes completely to a man.
Interaction with relatives includes both spouses, the nature of the interaction directly depends on the relationship within the parental families.
The role of "psychotherapist" is more characteristic of a woman capable of accepting loved ones. Psychological support, protection and personal comfort determine the level of satisfaction with marriage, so this role is extremely important. The female nature of the role does not at all mean that men are excluded from the process of protecting, caring for and empathizing with family members. A man is required to assume this role in certain situations, especially when it is the woman who needs support.
To assess marital roles, questionnaires are used, where questions are asked for each role in order to identify negative areas that cause imbalance in the relationship of spouses.
Both spouses take part in the diagnosis. Only in this case, a complete picture of the distribution of marital roles in a couple is formed.
Methods for analyzing parent-child relationships
There is always a transformation in the relationship between parents and childrenboth sides. The growing up of the child and the change in the psychological state of the parents leads to misunderstanding, the accumulation of mutual claims and the formation of an unfavorable climate within the family. The study of the "parent-child" system often takes place within the framework of the socio-pedagogical diagnostics of the family. Diagnostic techniques in the study of parent-child relationships can be directed to:
- children (family drawing, "unfinished sentences", etc.);
- adults (composition "the story of my child's life", a questionnaire by Varga A. and Stolin V. and others);
- all family members (methods for studying self-esteem, interaction, "architect-builder", etc.).
In addition to these types, there are methods that have some of the questions addressed to the child. The second part of the questions requires an answer from the parents. When comparing the results of working with parents and children, specialists get a complete picture of the relationship. An important role is played by the diagnosis of the child's family in case of problems in the peer group or learning difficulties. This is also one of the aspects of establishing mutual understanding between parents and children.
Help family
A separate item in the analysis of parent-child relationships is the work with the diagnosis of foster families.
As a rule, relationships among family members who are not related by blood are more complicated than ordinary family relationships. In such families, aggressive and cruel behavior towards children is often revealed. This was the reasonclose attention of guardianship authorities to the diagnosis of families. When diagnosing foster families, special attention is paid to the following qualities:
- prone to conflict;
- ability to seek a compromise solution;
- stress resistance.
Primary diagnosis consists of an assessment of parental experience. Parental families, their style of upbringing and interaction between family members are studied. The facts of violence are revealed, which, when discovered, serve as a risk factor and become the subject of close observation by workers of psychological and social services. In the primary diagnosis, the Luscher test, CTO (color test of relationships) is used. Methods have convenient computer options and do not take much time. At the same time, these methods are able to reveal signs of psychological distress.
The child's experience of interacting with parents is diagnosed, the skills of relationships within the family are studied, as well as their communication styles, internal beliefs and stereotypes.
The next step is to identify risk factors for the occurrence of hazardous situations and a detailed study of these factors. At this stage, the ATQ questionnaire and the Beck scale are used to diagnose the emotional side of the personality of adults and children.
To assess the communication of family members, they use the methods of a drawn apperceptive test, tests and questionnaires to identify aggressiveness and conflict, a method for assessing the ability to empathize and tolerance.
Separately, children are diagnosed with a tendency to fantasies, checkedadequate perception of reality. To do this, use the Wechsler test, a test for character accentuation.
Based on the results of the data obtained, a decision is made on further work with the family, the appointment of therapeutic measures. The features of diagnosing a family with an adopted child are a deeper study of relationships, as well as constant monitoring of ongoing changes with a mandatory comparison of the results of previous studies.
Survey of the family as a single system
The family is a single system, the development of which is studied from a historical point of view, its history is written.
To diagnose families as a whole system, methods are used that give a general picture and have retrospective information. One such method is the genogram.
The method is a graphic representation of the family, taking into account close relatives. Each member of the family corresponds to a geometric figure on the genogram, connected to other different lines, depending on the type of relationship.
Genogram takes into account cohabitation, divorce status, conflict relationships, for which special symbols are provided.
The process of compiling a genogram takes a long time. To obtain the necessary information, a series of interviews with family members is conducted, where not only the problems of the current time are discussed, but also the history of the development of family relations.
Other methods suggest depicting the history of families in the form of graphs that record especially significant events and periods of relationship development (for example, “Linetime ). If necessary, the diagnosis of the family as a single system can be supplemented by other methods, more narrowly focused.
Socio-pedagogical analysis of the family
Working with "difficult children" is often entrusted to a social educator or psychologist. In this case, a socio-pedagogical analysis of families is carried out, including the periodic collection and analysis of information about the processes taking place in the family, the features of the interaction of its members. All factors are considered from the point of view of the destructive influence on the child, preventing the adequate process of socialization and forming deviations in behavior.
The subject of socio-pedagogical diagnostics of the family is not only children, but also parents and other members of the family. The system of relations with brothers and sisters is necessarily considered. The interaction of the child with the family and other participants in family relations with each other is analyzed.
A dangerous situation is recognized if the following factors are identified:
- lack of parental care;
- gross neglect of parental responsibilities;
- destructive lifestyle of parents;
- unacceptable level of material and housing support for a child, vagrancy;
- violence etc.
Selecting a diagnostic method
When choosing a diagnostic method, they strive to achieve the following criteria:
- simplicity of the method of conducting and processing, clarity for the subject;
- minimum time and effort spent ondiagnostics while achieving a clear and valuable result;
- connection of the method with the main subject of diagnostics.
In addition, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of families, length of married life, history, structure, family environment, etc. A comprehensive analysis allows you to choose the most appropriate diagnostic method that allows you to achieve the desired result with minimal effort.
Diagnostic results
Based on the results of the diagnosis, a specialist draws up a psychological report describing family relationships, risk factors, and assessing the level of favorable conditions. Recommendations are given on corrective work for both adults and children. Initially, these may be separate consultations with a psychologist, then joint therapeutic sessions are applied. If necessary, recommendations are made to visit narrow specialists to fill gaps in the development of the child.
The conclusion can be arbitrarily formatted, but in most cases it is a standardized document that meets established standards. Conclusions formed for the guardianship authorities are transferred to the appropriate authority, where they are already considered from the point of view of the favorable development of the child in the foster family.
As a result of diagnostics, the family can be recognized as safe. Identification of difficult situations in relationships leads to the definition of the type of family. The following types are divided: problematic, crisis, asocial, immoral, antisocial.
Further work builds on resultsdiagnostics of the family, preventive and rehabilitation measures are carried out. The effectiveness of preventive and rehabilitative activities largely depends on the quality of the established contact between the family and the specialist. Only trusting relationships can lead to positive results.
At the stage of rehabilitation of a dysfunctional family, counseling and assistance are provided to the family. At the same time, the formality of communication can seriously reduce the result of work, and reproaches can nullify all efforts. A trusting relationship must be maintained throughout interaction with the family.
Unfavorable cells of society are constantly under the supervision of guardianship authorities, such families are accompanied in order to track (diagnose) changes within the family and prevent negative impact on children.
