Family Stress Theory

In the family stress theory he theorist state that the family go through four stages when face with a crisis. These stages are crisis, disorganization, recovery and reorganization. Hill’s see them as the ABC-X model. In 1995 my family went through a sudden stressor which was very stressful. The stressor event was the death of my youngest sister in a car accident; because the stressor was sudden it causes a degree of stress on the family to the level where we was really disorganized. My dad was not working so financially we were low and they had just help me through my high school graduation. My mom and my grandfather were in the accident too and were in the hospital so we were really disorganized. After a few days of dealing with the pain we start on the part to recovery where we have to start thinking about burying our sister and prepare for mom to come home. We had visit from a lot of person who know the family many person give their support both financially and emotionally which was our community resources; along with our family resources and our individual resources we start the path to recovery. Our copping strategies were each other support, at time all four of us would sleep together in one bed just to be close to each other. After the funeral the family starts the long road to reorganization and that was a long road. First we have to a just to helping our mother who had a broken right arm.

In my view as a understand the stress theory  I view this as a negative stressor, reason been we lost a family member who cannot be replace it is not like a exam that you can do again she is gone never to return to this life  therefore the family when through a crisis-stress according to the theorist. This theory help me to understand that when there is a stress you have to try and balance work , family and personal life and cope with the stress to recovery.

Family Stress Theory

Crisis is a person’s or a set of people’s reaction to an event. This theory deals with how families handle stress. One can say all family passes through four stages of crisis. Recently there was a death in my family. I believe the person who felt the most pain is my uncle in-law because he was the one living with my aunt for a number of years. First there was the death which was unexpected. Then the disorganization taking place, we as the family  members did not know what to say, what to do and naturally we were all looking for someone to blame for this. Everyone was and still is sad. The autopsy was to be done to find out what killed her as she was not sick. After the autopsy, the funeral date was to be set and funeral programme to prepare. We all were going through these motions and not really knowing that we were going through the four stages of crisis. After the funeral then we will gradually have to go back to our lives and learn to live without our aunt, sister, wife and daughter, meaning all the family members. This is the final stage of the crisis reorganization.

This theory helps us to understand the balancing the stress of work, school and personal life. Right now I feel I am going through a crisis. My husband and I do not see eye to eye on the responsibilities of each other in the marriage. He believes, I should do all the household duties even though I am at school, and I feel that he should understand that I have six weeks of school and I am asking him to do some of the things I usually do for the few weeks that I am away. We are now going through the four stages of crisis. At the moment we are at the fourth stage where we are reorganizing, helping out each other and making the necessary adjustment until my schooling is through in August. This theory helps me to understand others who are going through this stress; why if there is no compromising this could lead to a divorce.

Family Stress Theory

Family Stress Theory

Stress is your body's way of responding to any kind of demand. It can be caused by both good and bad experiences.  An example of positive stress is studying to pass an exam while a negative stress may be a teenage girl who is pregnant and have to be a dropout. This causes certain amount of stress on the system. Whenever there is certain demand or stress in the family it affects everyone in the unit. Different stressors can cause stress in the family such as divorce, death of a loved one and unexpected pregnancy. For example my great-grandmothers death was heartrending for my family because she was the one who kept things together. Although she was ailing loosing her still caused some amount of stress on the family because at this point her children had to pool their resources and take care of thing.

 I was really affected by this and what I do to overcome is to remember the good times we had together. However the family was well supported so we are coping with the loss of our great grandmother.  The most important thing when a family is going through a crisis is for you to have some form of support for example a teenage cousin who got pregnant although she had to leave high school her mother still supported her, sent her to women’s centre so that she could complete her studies.  

This theory helps me to understand the reason for things such as divorce, I have always wondered why my aunt never worked out things with her husband however I now realize that when someone has reached their peak it is best to let go instead of staying and hurting yourself.

The Family Stress Theory

I can recall last year when my grandmother was really ill. This placed some amount of stress on my family because the family’s resource had to be used in caring for my grandmother. The workload had to be divided amoung family members based on the resources they posses. One member was asked to be the caregiver because she was unemployed while other members would assist by sending money or groceries as the need arise.  My aunt had to be visiting the parish of St. Elizabeth frequently to visit her. Even though we were all caring for her we were anticipating her death. When she eventually die the family was shaken up just the same. It was as though no one wanted to deal with the reality that she was gone. Even though the stressor in this case was gradual I do not believe that it helped the family to cope. After grandma died the family had to come together to deal with this external stressor. We had to pool our resources together in order to deal with the funeral arrangements. Some of the resources include money, skills, emotional support etc.

My aunt who is the eldest child for my grandmother was depressed and I had to be there to comfort her from time to time. She also got emotional support through the church she attends. The church is one community resource the family can utilize when trying to cope with stressors that may arise when dealing with family stress or crisis.

In my family’s situation I wouldn’t say it was a crisis because in dealing with this situation we had to strike a balance with our family life and maintaining order in the family and other activities such as work, school etc. One way for me to cope with the loss of my grandmother is to avoid visiting the country because I have a feeling of emptiness inside me whenever I think of going to the back for a visit.

The Family Stress Theory

I can recall last year when my grandmother was really ill. This placed some amount of stress on my family because the family’s resource had to be used in caring for my grandmother. The workload had to be divided amoung family members based on the resources they posses. One member was asked to be the caregiver because she was unemployed while other members would assist by sending money or groceries as the need arise.  My aunt had to be visiting the parish of St. Elizabeth frequently to visit her. Even though we were all caring for her we were anticipating her death. When she eventually die the family was shaken up just the same. It was as though no one wanted to deal with the reality that she was gone. Even though the stressor in this case was gradual I do not believe that it helped the family to cope. After grandma died the family had to come together to deal with this external stressor. We had to pool our resources together in order to deal with the funeral arrangements. Some of the resources include money, skills, emotional support etc.

My aunt who is the eldest child for my grandmother was depressed and I had to be there to comfort her from time to time. She also got emotional support through the church she attends. The church is one community resource the family can utilize when trying to cope with stressors that may arise when dealing with family stress or crisis.

In my family’s situation I wouldn’t say it was a crisis because in dealing with this situation we had to strike a balance with our family life and maintaining order in the family and other activities such as work, school etc. One way for me to cope with the loss of my grandmother is to avoid visiting the country because I have a feeling of emptiness inside me whenever I think of going to the back for a visit.

Family Stress Theory. What are your thoughts?