Over the past few years, social values and behavior that affects the family structure have changed in a great deal. The families have to adapt to this changes by becoming flexible and dynamic. Communication among the family members aids to this adaptation in addition to visiting the necessary assistance outside the family boundaries.

As a form of psychotherapy, family therapy is used to tackle family problems in relationship and communication in the nuclear and the extended family. Just like the different organs of the body work together for a common purpose, the family is as well treated as a whole. The specific individuals in the family have specific roles to play for the family to work as a system. A reader would expect to understand how individual members of a family function together as one despite being separate entities. The purpose of this manuscript is to demonstrate a family as a living organism that is more than the sum of its parts. Each individual in the family has a role to play for common objective achievement within the family as a whole (Leslie 56).

Family as a system, possess several unique characteristics that includes; wholeness, interdependence and openness. The system is a complex organization that follows a set of rules while responding to each other in different ways through communication. Even though one can interact with a particular family, they cannot get to know them until they observe the behavior of the members (Jerry, 31).

Family therapy is based on the system theory, which likens the family to an organism that dynamically works together through organized interaction of the body parts. The human body is a good example of the interaction. Once a virus or bacteria invades the body, a marshal from various parts of the body unites to eliminate the invader and restore the normal body functioning (Leslie 56). Family is also compared to an automobile that has wheels, engine and the rest of the parts. Every parts of there are significant for mobility of the whole from place to place. There is not part of the automobile that is less important and none of the part is more important by itself when a part of break down, the automobile remains stagnant until the part is repaired.

The family psychologist started the therapy after the Second World War after observing how patients with schizophrenia were treated in their homes. They noticed that there was disturbed communication between the parents and the children who had the mental disorder. Although the family problems are not directly linked to the development of schizophrenia, family problems in relationship and communication may exacerbate the symptoms of the condition. The level of tension between the parents and their children may affect the severity of the symptoms. The family is therefore considered as a system that has its own rules and is probable to resist change. Instead of paying attention to the schizophrenic patient only, the psychotherapists consider to treat the whole family as the “patient”. The member with schizophrenia improved.

Communication has been considered as a system that is composed of different parts that are interrelated to function as a whole. An important characteristic of communication system is the interdependence between the different parts. The communication of an individual cannot be fully understood in isolation of his non-verbal activity and the communication behavior of the listeners. Interdependence means that a change in any part of the system will lead to change of the individual parts. For example, the grade curves represent the general performance of the students in a particular class. If a change occur as a result of error rectification of a student’s marks, the rest of the students grades automatically changes. This change will depend on the nature of the error rectification.

To demonstrate that the whole is not equal to its parts, the researchers compare the family to the constituent atoms that forms water. Addition of hydrogen atom to a water molecule leads to one molecule of water rather than three atoms of hydrogen. This is similar to a family communication system which is higher than the individual family member communication. Interaction among the family members causes synergy of the family communication system (Babbie 57).

The family communication system is not static, but rather remains in dynamic state. It remains in a state of balance that changes from time to time. The individual members of the family play a role for maintenance of this state of equilibrium. Take an example of a family that is not agreeing on the place spend their holiday. All of them are involved in frantic race of thought to proof how good or bad the venue is. At the end the family members cool down and reflect on the argument to come up with the right conclusion. It forms basis of reference for future argument. Each individual will have learnt the points to argue and which to leave, thus taking the communication system back to its equilibrium state.

Healthy families are considered as strong families that do not have the family stressors. Assessment of the health of the family involves assessment of the individual members as well as the family as whole (Bassavanthappa, 146). A healthy family tends to communicate to each other, and listen to each other. The members support each other and affirm the sense of trust among them. Furthermore, the member shares leisure together, shares the sense of responsibility, shares traditional, cultural and religious rituals and cores. They open the boundaries to seek for help and intervention from outside the family in case of problems that are not solvable within the internal boundaries (Bassavanthappa, 147).

In his study on family nursing, Bassavanthappa (148) emphasizes the view of the family as more than just the content of the specific individuals. This is central in family nursing where the nurse considers the family as the client. More focus is directed towards each individual as they affect the whole family. The nurse can questions like: ‘tell me how the members of your family are responding to your illness”

Interactions among the members of the family form the identity of each family member to the outside world. Many people use this as excuses to leave work place early or even quit in order to have “family time”. Through the interaction, the family members come up with family stories which form part of socialization. The stories also create a sense of belonging to a particular family. As the first place where socialization starts, the children come to know their relationship with each other. They know that this is the father, mother, sister and a brother hence it has monumental role of shaping people self concept (Chris 44).

Perhaps, we should know what makes the whole to be greater than the sum of it all. The relationship between the individual parts makes them a whole. The interdependency among them occurs because they exchange the communication behaviors. Families as part of human system are an open system. This means that the exchange of the information is not only among the family members, but also with the outside world. The system cannot remain closed for it needs interaction with other systems. Just as what happens in the ecosystem, where there is exchange of energy with the environment around it (Bryan B, 97).

Atmosphere created in the family is another aspect that determines effective communication among the members. It is important to embed dynamics into this social climate for successful communication. They include; cohesiveness, authority and democratic climate, friendly communication and control of emotions when addressing vital points. However some family member may address the issues in a grudging and authoritative manner insisting that the individual with the problem must change. This is out of anxiety and fear of the member with the problem (Willian, 186).

Conformity orientation refers to the degree in which the family members communicate to each other. It refers to the depth, breath and amount of conversation among the members of the family, which varies in different families. While some families encourage self exploration in seeking for information, others hold on family unity and control. Members with high conversation orientation can freely express their feelings, thoughts and talk about their various activities. The advantage of this form of communication ion the family is that all members of the family participate in the decision making. It also prepares the children for socialization and interaction outside the family boundaries. When the children are encouraged to talk openly, the parents have a rewarding family life (Ascan, 86).In families with low conversational orientation, the members are restricted to discussion of certain topics. Some topics are considered private or belong to older members of the family.

In families with high conformity orientation, encourages a climate of uniformity. The older members of the family offer guidelines to follow by the rest of the members. Children become obedient and family conflicts are avoided so as to encourage family harmony. The families with low conformity orientation allow diversity of beliefs, values, attitude and behaviors. It allows the member to have outside relationship that increases confidence and independence. In addition, it allows the members of the family to have private time alone or with friends outside the family (Ascan, 89).

As I reflect on my family in regard to the social theories, it is impossible for the family to remain as a closed system. It is the reason why we rely on external and extended support in case of conflicts among the siblings or between the siblings and the parents. Some changes of parts of the family members causes change in the equilibrium of the balance in the family. It is responsibility of every member to play their role in restoring the equilibrium by learning from the previous experiences. Seeking family therapy for the whole family in case where a family member is affected is beneficial for continued cohesion. It will form the basis of defining a strong and health family. Creation of time with our family for enough interaction will increase the exchange of ideas among the family members whish form s the first socialization forum in the society.

Work cited

Leslie, B and Babbie, E. The basic communication research. Belmont: CA 2004. Print.

Bassavanthappa. Midwifery and reproductive nursing. New Yolk, NY: 2006 Print.

Chris, S and Jeanne, F. Family communication. Routledge, 2014. Print.

Bryan, B. Explaining communication: Contemporary theories and examples. Routledge, 2006.Print.

.Ascan F. “Toward a Theory of Family Communication,” Communication Theory. New yolk, NY.2002 print.

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