Interaction of Human Culture and the Environment :: Environment Environmental Pollution Preservation

Interaction of Human Culture and the EnvironmentIn the mid(prenominal) 1970s and early 1980s, the field of clinical psychology underwent a revolution with the emergence of family therapy. Therapists initially understood disorders as being the result of a linear range of a function of causality. For instance, one theory of schizophrenia held that the disorder resulted from exposure to a certain pattern of behavior on the part of the patients mother. Mothers of schizophrenics were often found to be particularly cold, unresponsive, dominant, and conflict-inducing towards their children. Researchers argued that such schizophrenogenic behavior was the direct cause of the disorder. Successful treatment, indeed, required the patient and mother to examine their relationship and seek out better, more positive methods of interaction. Family therapists, however, then began to realize that the etiology of the disorder was far more complex than simply the mother inducing the disorder deep dow n the child. The schizophrenic and the mother were enmeshed within a complex system of interactions both within, as well as outside, the family. Thus, the schizophrenic was affected by both his mother and father, the schizophrenic himself had an impact on his parents, the father and mother affected each other through their marital relationship, and social and cultural norms had an overall impact on all members of the family. Family systems researchers realized that these non-homogeneous relationships were constantly changing, and that each one had a significant effect on the others. Problems within the family were now understood in terms of circular causality alternatively than linear. For instance, it might very well be true that the schizophrenics mother is cold, conflict-inducing, and unresponsive towards him. It is in addition true, however, that the schizophrenic manifests very bizarre behavior, such as hearing voices, playing on paranoid impulses, hallucinating, and displa ying inappropriate (or flat) emotional responses. These behaviors would certainly affect the mother, as she would be stressed and deeply concerned for her childs well being. The mother might also be affected by a strained marital relationship with her husband, which itself might be vetoly impacted by the childs schizophrenic behavior. Finally, the family might be negatively affected by the society in which they live, as their neighbors or colleagues might view them as outcasts and purposely isolate them because of their childs inappropriate behavior. Ultimately, this series of negative interactions may result in a feedback loop, in which maladaptive behavior is amplified and the childs schizophrenic behavior worsens.