Understanding Conflicted Family Systems through a Developmental Lens: How Do I Refuel?
This is a brief conceptual overview of human development from conception toward autonomy with pitstops along the way to understand the back-and-forth dance of separation/individuation and enmeshment. In this view, healthy parents function as gas stations and children are cars that become more and more fuel efficient as they grow.
The emotional upheaval that can be associated with family conflict, separation, and divorce can disrupt a child’s sense of when and where and how the child will be refueled, setting the stage for many of the maladaptive dynamics so familiar to family law including enmeshment. Family law professionals must have a foundation in these concepts in order to understand the family system as it has developed over time into the present and as it is likely to develop into the future.
Benjamin Garber, PhD, is a New Hampshire licensed psychologist, parenting coordinator, former guardian ad litem, and expert consultant to family law matters across the United States and Canada.
Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) webinar.