Which comment by a mother during a family therapy session shows ...

[abc]

Which comment by a mother during a family therapy session shows evidence of scapegoating?
 
  a. Our youngest child always starts arguments and upsets everyone else.
  b. We all express our feelings openly except when we think it might upset my husband.
  c. Our oldest child knows that my husband and I are doing all we can for the others.
  d. After my husband has been drinking, I have to get everyone up and ready for school.

Question 2

A wife believes her husband is having an affair. Lately, he has been disinterested in romance and working late. The husband has an important, demanding project at work. The mother asks her teen, What have you noticed about your father?
 
  The teen later mentions this to the father, who says, Tell your mother that I can't deal with her insecurities right now. Which family dynamic is evident?
 
  a. Multigenerational dysfunction
  b. Triangulation
  c. Enmeshment
  d. Blaming

[SamMuagrove]

Answer to Question 1

ANS: A
Scapegoating is blaming family problems on a member of the family who is not very powerful. The purpose of the blaming is to keep the focus off painful issues and off the blamers themselves. A double-bind message, such as We all express our feelings openly except when..., involves giving instructions that are inherently contradictory or that place the person in a no-win situation. Our oldest child knows that  is an example of triangulation, wherein a third party is engaged to help stabilize an unstable pair within the family. A child assuming parental responsibilities (e.g., caring for siblings) because a parent fails to do so is an example of enabling.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: B
Triangulation is a family dynamic wherein a pair relationship (usually the parents) is under stress and copes by drawing in a third person (usually a child) to align with one or the other members of the pair relationship. Multigenerational dysfunction is any dysfunction that exists within or across multiple generations of a family, such as child abuse or alcoholism. Blaming is distracting attention from one's own dysfunction or reducing one's own anxiety by blaming another person. Enmeshment refers to blurred family boundaries or blending together of the thoughts, feelings, or family roles of the individuals so that clear distinctions among members fail to emerge.