Family Systems: Morphostasis and Morphogenesis, or “Is Homeostasis Enough?”

Abstract

The role of family homeostasis in Conjoint Family Therapy is reviewed and examined from the standpoint of the Sociocultural Systems framework as presented by Buckley. Sociocultural Systems concepts are presented, and an attempt is made to relate them to a view of the family. It is concluded that the concept of homeostasis by itself is insufficient as a basic explanatory principle for family systems and that it may limit both our expectations for families and our approaches to helping families. The concepts viability, positive feedback processes, morphogenesis, and “variety” are presented and emphasized as important for a more tenable conceptualization of the family system in our society today. An attempt is made to relate these concepts to some of the clinical family literature and to examine the implications of these concepts for mental health and educational approaches to the family.

Family systems and the attachment dynamic

“…The recognition of inflexible patterns in the way family members behave led to the concept, first suggested by Jackson (1957) and elaborated by Speer (1970) and by Beavers (1977) that family members, in the way that they interact with one another, seem to maintain a level of homeostatic equilibrium within a family system and to avoid change in order to do so. When, however, inflexible patterns of interaction are considered in the light of attachment theory the retention of well tried ways of behaving takes on a different significance; and within the attachment framework the concept of homeostasis, as at present understood, either becomes redundant or has to be completely rethought.…”

Desarrollo de la personalidad y virtudes sociales: relaciones en el contexto educativo familiar

“…Speer (1970) resultó acertado en sus reflexiones sobre este tema al señalar que era una paradoja observar cómo las teorías de los sistemas familiares se basaban en conceptos como la resistencia a los cambios y la estabilidad, cuando en el ámbito social había un claro interés por la creatividad, la innovación y, en general, el concepto de cambio. Por su parte, Wynne et al (1958) asociaron la rigidez que presentaban algunas familias ante los cambios a un posible indicador de algunas patologías, y se refirió al intento de las mismas por mantener la homeostasis como una cierta disfuncionalidad.…”

Family assessment: Systems theory and the genogram

“…The development of general systems theory has become a framework within which family process may be identified and explained (Beavers, 1976;Speer, 1970;Watzlawick, Beaver & Jackson, I967). Hall and Fagan (1956) define a system as "a set of objects together with relationships between the objects and between their attributes."…”