Towards a General Model of Psychotic Family Games*

Abstract

The author presents the results of six years of clinical research on 114 families with psychotic children. The aim was to build up a general model of the interactional organization of these families, apparently so different from one another, which could successfully guide therapeutic interventions. For the moment the research has suggested that the psychotic breakdown of a child is theendpoint of a process in six stages. The description of the process begins with a specific couple's interaction, called “stalemate,“ in which the child, who will become psychotic, actively interferes in an effort to modify the situation. The failure of his/her attempts coincides, at the sixth stage, with his/her resorting to a psychotic behavior.

The Role of Family Relationships in Eating Disorders in Adolescents: A Narrative Review

“…Originally, the relevance of relational aspects to adolescents' eating disorders has been acknowledged by a large set of theories and conceptualizations referred to the theory of family systems [28][29][30] and the relational systemic approach [31][32][33][34][35].…”

“…The long tradition of research on eating disorders in the relational systemic field, which begun more than 50 years ago with the pioneering clinical observations of the exponents of the Milan school [34,[44][45][46], has highlighted the relationship between the psychopathological aspects of eating and the patient's family dynamics. In the framework of the theoretical model of family therapy, the two fields represented by systemic relational theories [35,46] and psychosomatic or structural theories [33] have emphasized the transactional modalities of families with problems mainly related to the relationships between the subsystem of children and parents.…”

“…Historically, negative family dynamics have been indicated as a key element in the development and maintenance of eating disorders, with initial attention directed toward anorexia nervosa [33,34]. More precisely, the systemic approach postulates that certain types of family organizations are closely related to the development and maintenance of problems in children.…”

“…More precisely, the systemic approach postulates that certain types of family organizations are closely related to the development and maintenance of problems in children. In particular, in exploring the theme of dysfunctions in family functioning that can contribute to the onset of an eating disorder, the first systemic conceptualizations of anorexia nervosa in adolescence proposed by the models of psychosomatic families [33] or anorexia nervosa in adolescence [34] have suggested that at the origin of the disorder, there are specific patterns of family interaction and alterations in relationships that could also be determinants in the maintenance and development of the disease. These models essentially originate from clinical observations and lead to a unique description of anorexic families as typically rigid, united, and dedicated to self-sacrifice and loyalty to its members [46].…”

Family Therapy and Qualitative Research*

“…Similarly, Selvini's (1986aSelvini's ( , 1986b development of the concept of psychotic family games is an example of theory discovered through informal, qualitative, clinical research. Anderson's (1986) response to Selvini's research, however, points out a major problem with existing clinical research in the field of family therapy-it is too informal.…”