Practising family therapy in India: how many people are there in a marital subsystem?

Abstract

Systemic therapy would appear to be a viable form of treatment for people who exist in cultures that contain complex, extended family systems, such as those found in India. The practice of family therapy in India has evolved from Western concepts. These concepts appear to offer Indian therapists relevant and practical ways of working with families. However, some of these concepts need modifying before they can be used in an Indian context. Indian families may have very different worldviews and ideas of ‘self’ compared to families in the West, leading to different family organization. The situation can be further complicated by the cultural norms of therapists themselves. Therapists in India are often highly educated, come from upper‐middle‐class families and have been exposed to different cultures. They increasingly share many of the values of their counterparts in the West. At the same time, they retain aspects of their own cultural heritage, which is also the dominant culture for a large number of the families with whom they work. Thus, not only must Indian family therapists seek to work in culturally appropriate ways; they must also tolerate their own internalized conflicts regarding differing cultural norms. With the use of clinical data, this paper describes some of the personal and professional problems experienced by an Indian family therapist working with Western constructs of family organization.

Treating troubled families: Therapeutic scenario in India

“…Previous studies by Desai (1991), Nath & Craig (1999), Carson & Chowdhary (2000), and Shah et al (2000), refl ect several challenges which need thinking and rethinking by practitioners and researchers on issues such as rural and urban differences, linguistic diversity, variations in family interactions across cultures, dealing with the boundaries of extended families, pathological nature of hierarchical relationships, importance of family of origin, notion to preserve relationships despite constraints, socioeconomic and ethnic background, family power structure, stages of family life cycle, members included in the marital sub-system, and developmental tasks.…”

“…Most Indians certainly in the rural areas used to grow up in extended families with members in interdependent family roles, engaged in the activities necessary to maintain the group as a cohesive and cooperating unit with the aim of ensuring the survival and collective welfare of family members and protecting them from the incursions of the outside world Nath & Craig (1999). The structures, organization of subsystems in Indian families are different in some parts of the country.…”

Relationship Satisfaction among South Asian Canadians: The Role of ‘Complementary-Equality’ and Listening to Understand

“…Marriages have traditionally been arranged by parents, considered sacrosanct and permanent, and divorce is socially discouraged (Kurian, 1974). Marriage is more a social affair than an individual affair, as it is seen as the bonding of two families not just two individuals and the marital relationship is not more important than other familial relationships; they were both very important and the attempt is to keep these synchronous (Nath & Craig, 1999;Sonpar, 2005). The purpose of marriage was primarily for procreation and continuity of family and religious heritage.…”

“…The extended family and kin help mediate conflicts between couples, as the norm is not to disclose marital problems to outsiders (Natrajan & Thomas, 2002). Members of the extended family household share the burden of domestic duties (e.g., cleaning and cooking) and assist in childrearing (Kurian, 1974;Nath & Craig, 1999). Within such close-knit family organization, spouses develop psychological and emotional bonds not just with their partner but their in-laws (Nath & Craig, 1999).…”

“…Members of the extended family household share the burden of domestic duties (e.g., cleaning and cooking) and assist in childrearing (Kurian, 1974;Nath & Craig, 1999). Within such close-knit family organization, spouses develop psychological and emotional bonds not just with their partner but their in-laws (Nath & Craig, 1999).Research suggests second generation South Asians --those that were raised in Canadaare very similar to their parent in terms of their adherence to traditional marital expectations (Dasgupta, 1998). For instance, the second generation Indo-Pakistanis that were raised in Canada are moving away from arranged marriages towards an intermediate compromise with Western marital patterns, where the mate is selected by the individual, yet parental consent and approval is needed before marriage (Vaidyanathan & Naidoo, 1991; Wakil, et al, 1981).…”