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Is there a ‘psychosomatogenic’ family? *
Author(s) -
Loader Peter J.,
Kinston Warren,
Stratford Jackie
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1046/j.1467-6427.1980.00534.x
Subject(s) - psychology , affect (linguistics) , developmental psychology , family systems theory , family studies , social psychology , genealogy , communication , history
Review of the literature revealed two family theories of psychosomatic illness: the ‘enmeshed’ family of Minuchin and the family with affect disturbances. We interviewed twelve families, each containing a child with eczema. Most, but not all, of the families do fit in with one or other or both of the proposed interactional patterns, but the theory of a single family type, the ‘psychosomatogenic family’, is not supported. This complements the studies of individuals where specificity hypotheses have proved oversimplified.