The foundation of Family Systems theory are these eight components. The differentiation of self, the triangle, the nuclear family emotional process, the family projection process, the multi-generational transmission process, sibling position, the emotional cutoff, and the emotional processes in society.

The differentiation of self is a concept on a continuum from 0 to 100 with 100 being complete self differentiation. The concept is simply being able to differentiate between one’s emotions and one’s thoughts. Someone with high levels of self differentiation are able to make more rationale decisions under considerable amounts of stress while someone on the opposite end of the spectrum may react more impulsive.

Multi-generational transmission …show more content…
The child doesn’t know how to cope with the anxiety so the family takes the child to get professional help. This concept suggests that when problems are “fixed” between the parents the child’s problems go away on their own.

The Triangle component is a system of relationships. When a relationship between two people are introduced to anxiety, their relationship will typically become unstable. When a third person is introduced to the system, there are usually more resources flowing to the reduction of stress, resulting in more stability. Generally , triads refer to two parents and their child.

For me, emotional cutoff is fairly self explanatory. It’s when a family is so emotionally distant that they cut ties emotionally. When this happens, anxiety increases dramatically. As a result, people typically search for other relationships. This leaves the person in a vulnerable position with an increased risk for more impulsive behavior.

Emotional processes in society is when environmental factors affect the emotional well-being of someone’s state of mind. This could be things like natural disasters, terrorism, economic recession, price inflation, etc. These factors contribute to downfalls in