Paper Example on Unresolved Loss: Monica McGoldrick's Sessions with the Rogers Family

Introduction

“The Legacy of Unresolved Loss’ McGoldrick (n.d) provides an excellent example of a family that experiences numerous challenges because of pas family issues that have been overlooked over time. The demise of a family member can present varied effects on each family member. Some might have the courage and emotional intelligence to overcome while others lack such qualities that make them vulnerable. Monica McGoldrick’s sessions with the Rogers family reveals how unfortunate events of death and disconnection can affect the emotions and behavior of teenagers. Whenever a child feels disconnected from a family member or a culture that they have special regards, they make attempts to retaliate (Patterson et al., 2018). The different forms of retaliation can manifest as deviant behavior as seen in the counseling session that was handled by McGoldrick. This essay will reveal how information about extended family, class, race and cultural background can be used in family therapy.

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Definition of four concepts

Extended family

The extended family includes members of the nuclear family from the maternal and paternal side. In this case, both a mother and a father or wife and husband have their parents and siblings. An extended family enables the use of family names such as grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousins, nephew, and niece. The extended family has an important impact on the behavior of a person. Certain members of the extended family might have impacted the lives of an individual in different ways that are hard to forget. Therefore, disconnecting a person from important figures in the extended family can lead to psychological implications and forms of retaliation. Therefore, psychotherapists need to establish and utilize innovative ways of unearthing such a connection for intervention purposes.

McGoldrick was keen to introduce the aspect of family background by delving into family history. Even though David was hesitant during the early stages of the counseling sessions, the trainer insisted that such a background about the extended family was fundamental. Both David and his wife were asked about their parents and the type of relationship that they had. David was further asked to talk about his dad and mother but he was defensive at first. Other extended family members that the counselor focused on during the sessions was Michelle’s grandmother on the maternal side. It was established that David had disconnected Michelle from her grandmother who had become an important part of her history despite having stayed with her for only a couple of months.

Class

Class is a social approach of grouping members of society based on perceived economic and social status. In this case, a society can establish social classes such as upper, upper-middle, lower-middle, and lower classes. Working-class and the unemployed is another way of classifying people. Perceived social status may be influenced by other aspects such as race. Class is a social construct that plays a crucial role in the creation of similarities and differences among people. While one person may ascribe to the ideology of associating with the same class, others go against such trends because of varied reasons. For instance, a member of the high class may disregard their class and chose to make friends and connect only with the lower class. Such forms of retaliation in forms of social interaction, practices, and preferences can help in diagnosing the root cause of a problem. Past events or family connections are examples of hypotheses that can be analyzed under such circumstances.

The issue of class emerged during the questioning of David’s upbringing. David revealed that he was brought up in a decent home by parents in the upper-middle class. The counselor might have initially assumed that the social class issue was not an important concern during counseling therapy. David’s upper-middle WASP background must have affected his parents’ approval of marrying a Puerto Rican woman. David’s parents never attended his wedding and expressed no support towards that marriage.

Race

Race can be described as a socially constructed method of group people based on common physical appearance and social qualities. The term race was initially used to group speakers of a common language such as Hispanics and Latinos. Today, the term race is easily understood as the classification of persons based on their skin color. Many people hide from the fact that race is a force that often divides or compels them to make certain decisions. A person may retaliate in case of disconnection to a specific race that they consider to be important to them. The connection with a particular race may stem from past events, friendship, and extended family ties. People belonging to different races can share ancestral ties that may have a negative or positive effect on their perceptions about race.

The issue of race emerges during the assessment of the conflict between Michelle and her parents. Michelle believes that her father and step-mother disapprove of her friendship with Puerto Rican kids. Kathleen argued that the group Michelle hanged out with was spoilt and would lead her to wrong paths. However, Michelle seemed to have a strong connection with her friends because they had the same native background as her mother who was also from Puerto Rico.

Cultural background

Culture is a composition of various social traditions and practices that include religion, language, beliefs, and ways of life. Cultures affect how people interact, their traditional practices, ways of worship, and hobbies among others. Cultural backgrounds can imply family or community cultural ways of life. Culture can imprint a powerful image and connection in a person’s mind as well as psychology. An individual may have a strong or weaker connection to culture depending on the level of impact that it had in their life. Unique memories or event that occurred in the presence of a cultural event tends to remain in the memories of people. Also, the connectors between people and specific cultures are crucial. Attempting to eliminate such connections affects the lives of people who want to associate with culture. During counseling sessions, an expert should attempt to expose the impact of culture in a client’s life and the actual connectors between the person and the culture.

Cultural background is also another aspect that McGoldrick dwells on during the sessions. The counselor attempts to exhume certain cultural aspects that David had overlooked over the years. For instance, David had disconnected Michelle from her late mother’s cultural background.

Analysis of Counselling Session by McGoldrick

Extended family

The impact of extended family on the behavior of Michelle was creatively dissected and utilized by the counselor. This was one of the most efficient strategies that helped McGoldrick to navigate through the tough challenge. The persistence in trying to reveal family background exposed a broken connection between the children and the extended family on their maternal side. Michell needed to maintain a connection with her grandmother because it was the only relevant link to her late mother. The disconnection that occurs after death or divorce of parents can have significant psychological impacts on children. The introduction of a new step-parent or step-siblings can rapture a state of rivalry. The girl was never allowed to grief over the demise of her mother. Also, the lack of connection between David and the extended family affected his judgment about family ties and their significance. The reconnection to the extended family helped in enhancing cohesion in the nuclear family.

Class

McGoldrick pays little attention to the impact of class during the counseling session. In most cases, a less experienced counselor would have dwelled on the class difference between Michelle and her friends. However, this was not the case because McGoldrick decided to learn more about family relations. However, several notes can be obtained from the difference in class and how it affected the relationship between David and his parents. The counselor also tried to expose whether David’s parents considered his Puerto Rican wife as a member of a lower class than the WASP. Even though the class was never a major concern in David’s case, it can be used to reveal attitudes and connections to extended family as well as friends.

Race

The race was a major concern and source of rivalry between Michelle and Kathleen. On one side Kathleen felt that Michelle was hanging out with the wrong friends. On the other hand, Michelle feels that her parents are only concerned because the peers in question are Puerto Ricans. In some way, Michelle tries to sow that the rivalry at hand is connected to the element of race. She feels agitated because her mother is from Puerto Rico and her parents are disconnecting her from people who share this identity. Children of parents belonging to different races often have two identities that they can associate and connect with. Trying to cut such connections can result in a conflict of interest and ideologies. According to Alan (2012) race is an important determinant of cultural identity. By identifying with people of Puerto Rico, Michelle was culturally comfortable with the race.

Cultural background

McGoldrick was able to expose a cultural rift in the family through the family history. Puerto Ricans had a different cultural background from David’s. Since Michelle was exposed to both cultures, she established a strong connection with Puerto Rico. Michelle felt at home whenever interacting with the people from Puerto Rico. The approach was instrumental because it resulted in the ultimate strategy of reconnecting the girl to the extended family in Puerto Rico. According to Patterson et al. (2018), cultural sensitivity is an important consideration at the beginning of a counseling session. Michelle’s defense of his Puerto Rican friends shows that she was culturally sensitive. Winek (2009) encourages therapists to intelligently circumvent cultural sensitivity and ensure considerable levels of tolerance. McGoldrick decided to exclude Kathleen during the intense family moment that involved David, Michelle, and Julian. The approach must have aided in avoiding a cultural confrontation.

Challenges and Obstacles

One of the major challenges that can arise during family therapy is the non-cooperation of some of the family members. For instance, the most notable forms of resistance were the tendency of David and Kathleen to conceal important information about their family background. Defensive positions by family members during such sessions tend to slow the progress of therapy. The same problem can emerge in children with duo racial identity. Another obstacle is extreme cultural sensitivity by members of the family. Consider a situation where both Kathleen and Michelle are extremely culturally sensitive. Establishing a conducive ground for the therapy would have turned out to be complicated in the end.

Sensitive Areas that Would have Affected My Practice

The revelation of facts surrounding the death of David’s wife triggers extreme emotions. Michelle never attended her mother’s burial and always felt disconnected from Puerto Rico. He explanation about this information can make me grapple with personal feeling. Upon realization that he as not been a good father to his children, David regrets and cries before his Julian and Michelle. His children had openly stated that they felt disconnected from him for a very long time. The emotions that emerge during that scene are intense and can make me struggle as a therapist. Although these two instances trigger high emotions, I doubt if they can affect my practice. However, I would have provided adequate time for the family to reveal...