Stress And The Family: Coping With Catastrophe

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Charles R. Figley, Hamilton I. McCubbin
Routledge, Sep 16, 2016 - Psychology - 299 pages

First Published in 1983. All families experience stress: the adjustment period when an infant is born; the many problems engendered by adolescents; role, dual-career, and work demands; environmental and societal problems; sexuality; divorce; marital tension; and the stress inherent in single parenting and stepparenting. In addition, families are frequently confronted by unexpected, stress-causing catastrophes: chronic illness and death addiction; abandonment by a spouse; unemployment; rape; national and international political crises; and natural disasters. Stress and the Family, Volume II: Coping With Catastrophe shows how the family produces and reacts to stress-causing situations and problems, and identifies a wide range of stress sources-those "normal," gradual, and cumulative life stressors commonly related to intimate family interaction and development, and those sudden, unpredictable, and often overwhelming stress-causing events or circumstances arising outside the family microsystem. The volume provides a blueprint for understanding the intricate patterns of individual and family reactions to catastrophes, showing how profoundly a disaster which strikes one family member can affect the entire family. Clinicians and family researchers discuss catastrophes that impact families infrequently, but without warning and with devastating consequences. Each chapter opens with a brief case study of a family struggling with the aftermath of a particular catastrophe.Coping With Catastrophe, and its companion volume, Coping With Normative Transitions, are based upon research, theories, and techniques in this area from both family therapy and sociology. The clear, practical intervention methods described and meticulous structural organization make both volumes pioneering textbooks for students and professionals interested not only in a comprehensive understanding of stress and the family, but also in strategies for helping families develop effective coping styles.

 

Contents

An Overview of Family Reactions
3
Family Stress and Coping
21
Adolescent Addictions and the Family
37
The Stress of Sudden Divorce
53
Family Adjustment to Loss
76
Family Strategies for Adaptation
90
Individual and Family Reactions
103
Family Disruption in the Wake of Natural Disaster
120
Bringing the Battle Home
148
The Family in Waiting
166
Research Education Treatment
185
Final Report of the Task Force on Families of Castastrophe
197
References
211
Name Index Volumes I and II
227
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Figley, Charles R.; McCubbin, Hamilton I.

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