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Symptom Bearer as Marital Distance Regulator: Clinical Implications
Author(s) -
BYNGHALL JOHN
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1980.00355.x
Subject(s) - ambivalence , shadow (psychology) , interpersonal communication , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , psychoanalysis
Certain families experience conflict in regulating their interpersonal distance because they are afraid of separation and intimacy. A couple that lives in the shadow of this double‐ended catastrophe may triangle in a “go‐between” to bring them together if they get too far apart, or separate them when they are too close. Ambivalence about the couple's relationship predisposes a family member, often an in‐law or child, to be recruited to this role. The “go‐between's” ambivalence then becomes the couple's homeostat, and symptoms are likely to appear in this individual. Implications for family therapy are illustrated by the through a full‐length case study.