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UNIT-5 FAMILY BPT/Slgy/2-21/AKG/AM

Meaning of Family:

Family is a group of people organized on the basis of natural bond, i.e., love and affection.

 It is the fundamental social unit formed in the society, which provides safety, security, rearing of
children and the fulfillment of certain human needs.
 It is the primary group in the society to fulfill the functions of procreation, nurturing and
socializing the children and transmission of culture.
 It is a group of interacting personalities who have definite and specific roles to establish mutual
relationship between the family members.
 Family is a sacred institution deriving sanctions from religion and social traditions with myths
and legends.

Definitions:

The word ‘family’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘famulus’ means ‘servant’.

Definitions: Mc Iver, “A group defined by sex relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide
for the procreation and upbringing of children.”

Eliot and Merril, “The biological unit composed of husband, wife and children”.

Burgess and Locke, “A group of persons united by ties of marriage, blood or adoption constituting a
single household, interacting and intercommunicating with each other in their respective social roles of
husband and wife, father and mother, son and daughter, brother and sister thus creating a common
culture”.

General characteristics of a family:

 Family is a group defined by sexual relationship, which is sufficiently precise and enduring to
provide for procreation and by bringing of children.
 It is a living together of males with females and offspring, establishing a permanent relationship.
 It is a form of marriage which is established and maintained.
 It is an attachment of blood relationship among family members.
 It is a system of sharing economic provisions to fulfill economic needs.
 There is common habitation.
 There is universality.
 Family fulfills emotional needs and it is a formative agency with limited members.
 Family controls the activities of its members.
 Family members will have certain responsibilities and duties and obligations.
 Family is peculiarly guarded by social taboos and legal regulations.
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Importance of family:

Family is the first institution in the history of man and so it is the primary group and
fundamental unit of society where face -to -face contact of the members is established. Family meets the
total needs of the individual. As man is a social being he can’t live without a family. It is the nucleus and
major part of man’s activity. It maintains social organization and develops the characters of the members
of the society. A person is socialized in a family. The child learns about the roles of adults in a family.
He acquires sincerity, honesty, sympathy, self-esteem, character formation and consciousness of
responsibility in a family. A child’s first school is his home and family. It is the family that moulds the
character and personality of the individual and so family is so important in a person’s life.

Functions of a Family:

 Family fulfills biological functions as it replaces the species through the propagation of progeny.
 It controls sex regulations of the members.
 It provides food, housing and clothing.
 It maintains psychological functions like affectionate bond, love and belongingness, intimate
relationships, affection, sympathy, love, security, etc.
 It maintains educational functions like knowledge and experience, personality and character
formation.
 It provides protection: protection of interests and give security in all dimensions.
 It provides recreational facilities which can develop positive interest in the child.
 It provides religious instructions which make the child kind-hearted and fulfilling fellow feelings.
 It maintains social and cultural status of the individual. The child learns honesty, truthfulness,
traditions, cultural pattern and role model activities.
 Family keeps culture of the society alive. It moulds members according to the social culture.
 It socializes the members and maintains social control over them.

The functions of the family are divided into essential and non-essential functions.

Essential functions are retained and it can’t be changed.

1. Satisfaction of stable sexual relationships: Family has made it possible to have regularity of
species and the perpetuation of human race.
2. Production and rearing of children.
3. Provision of home.

Non-essential functions can be transferred and specialized to other institutions:

1. Social security and provisions. E.g.: .the Government or state agency.

2. Religious functions E.g.: church, temple, mazjid.
3. Economic functions. E.g.: banks, financial corporations, insurance offices.
4. Educational functions E.g.: schools and colleges.
5. Recreational function. E.g.: cinema halls, clubs.
6. Caring the sick. E.g.: hospitals.
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Types of Families:

Families are divided on the basis of Authority, Residence, Ancestry, Marriage and Dominance.

1. Families on the basis of Authority:

 Patriarchal family : father is the most powerful and unquestionable authority.
 Matriarchal family: mother plays dominant role in the family.
2. Families on the basis of Residence:
 Patrilocal family: wife lives in husbands house.
 Matrilocal family: husband lives in the wife’s house
 Changing residence: husband and wife change between each others residence.
3. On the basis Ancestry:
 Patrilineal family: father is the basis of ancestry.
 Matrilineal family: mother is the basis of ancestry.
4. On the basis of Marriage:
 Monogamous family: one man marries only one woman.
 Polygamy family: one man marries many women
 Polyandrous family: One woman marries many men and lives in a family with all.
5. Based on Dominance:
 Patronymic family: family is named after the father.
 Matronymic family: family is named after the mother.
6. Other Types:
 Immediate family: consists of mother, father and their children.
 Conjugal family: consists of husband and wife.
 Extended family: besides the couple other relatives also live.
 Consanguineous family: blood related members, marry each other.
 Nuclear family Husband wife with their offspring live together.
 Joint family: Couple with their children’s family lives together.
 Extended family: Husband, wife, children and other dependents like brothers, sisters
stay together.

Changes in family patterns:

The family has undergone some radical changes in the past half a century. Its structure has changed, its
functions have been altered and its nature has been affected due to the influence of various factors like
social, economic, educational, legal, scientific, technological etc.

1. Industrialization: Production affected the economic functions of the family. Family has
become more a consumption unit than a production unit.
2. Urbanization: Family is cut into small size and has become smaller and its ties are weak due
to industrialization and urbanization.
3. Democratic ideals: Liberty has made women play not only domestic roles but also
economic and political roles.
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4. The decline of the influence of mores, religious beliefs and the spread of secular
attitudes: Morality and religion are slowly losing ground and family members have become
more secular in outlook.
5. The spirit of individualism and romantic love: Marriage has become easily dissolvable.
6. Economic independence of women: women have become an earning member. She now
works in schools hospitals, banks, offices etc. The economic independence has increased her
status but it has affected her attitude.
7. Emancipation of women: (free from restraint; freedom) Women are now liberated from the
chains of traditionalism and stand in equal footing with men demanding more rights and
liberty.
8. Decline in birth rate: Size of family is becoming smaller and joint family is not common.
9. Divorce: Love is no more sacramental now. Instance of divorce, desertion and separation
are mounting and marriage has become more of a civil contract.
10. Parent-youth conflict: Due to generation gap unusual amount of conflict takes place
between parents and their adolescent children.

The effect of sickness in the family:

Family is the fundamental/ basic unit, where the members will be tied with bond of love, affection, care,
concern. One needs family support to cop up with any situational changes, If any family member
becomes sick, it causes heavy burden on the family. One of the essential function of the family is to take
total care of its members.

The degree of impact of burden will be depending on the duration and severity of illness. During sickness
the entire family pattern and its activities will be altered, they have to modify total roles to fulfill care
associated activities.

1. Economic burden: Family has to spend lot of money for diagnostic measures including
screening, health check-up and therapeutic activities and if the sick person happens to be the
bread winner of the family, the intensity of economic burden will be more. Due to the sickness,
he may lose the job, or unable to cope up with working activities. If the severity of the illness is
chronic, so many alterations has to be made in the family like appointing home nurses, servant
maid, which increases the economic burden.

2. Disturbances in routine family activities: When the client is unable to take of his personal
needs due to disability, someone at home has to provide the care. This disrupt the routine
activities of the care taker

3. Leisure time: Either partially or completely the recreational time and activities are disrupted.
4. Alter family relationship.

5. Disrupting and disintegrating effect. Emotional upset, depressed, irritable, frustrated,

misunderstanding the life partners are the common traits in a sick person’s life. Life partners will
have to adjust with each other and compromising on various factors which help to maintain
cordial relationship.
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Functions of the Family during disease:

Functions in times of disease:

1. Fulfills the psychological needs like nutritious food, water, clothing, personal and environmental
hygiene, sanitation, love, care, rest and sleep.
2. Safety and security needs for the fullest recovery by fulfilling the emotional needs.
3. Fulfills economic needs of the patient like bearing hospital expenses and the needs of the family.

Psychosomatic diseases and their importance to physiotherapy.

Heinroth : According to him intra-psychic conflicts are responsible for structural changes and produce
manifestations of disease through the disturbance s in the functions of autonomic nervous system.

Definition: ‘It is the prolonged influence of emotional factors which produces a group of diseases where
structural lesions are produced in organs supplied by autonomic nervous systems

Characteristics:

 Emotions that upsets and precipitate attacks of the illness and increase severity of an attack.
 Stressful life experiences.

Common Psychosomatic disorders:

 Respiratory disorders – bronchial asthma; hay fever; vasomotor rhinitis.

 Gastrointestinal disorders – peptic ulcer; irritable bowel syndrome; Crohn’s disease.
 Skin disorders – pruritus; urticaria (a type of skin disease), atopic dermatitis; psychogenic
purpura; lichen planus; psoriasis, acne vulgaris; warts.
 Immune system – allergic disorders;
 Cardio vascular disorder – essential hypertension; coronary diseases.
 Reproductive system – premature ejaculation; impotence; frigidity ,menstrual disorders

Psychopathology:

Psychosomatic symptoms are related to psychically experienced stresses which produce anxiety and
disturbances in hypothalamus limb areas through the autonomic system and endocrinal glands produce
changes in the different systems due to inherent biological weakness or because of injury to the organs by
physical diseases. Thus a predisposed personality, organ vulnerability and prolonged emotional stresses in
life are the main factors involved in the production of psychosomatic diseases.

Diagnosis: Assessment of personality, stressors, psychological functioning and structural changes.

Treatment: Symptomatic treatment: treatment based on symptoms.

Psychotherapy: treatment using psychological methods.
Antidepressants: use of drug that elevates mood.
Psycho-physiological therapies like yoga, bio-feedback, relaxation therapy, transcendental
meditation.
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Possible Questions:
1. Define Family. What are the different functions of the family? (Essay)
2. Define Family. What are the different types of families? (Essay)
3. Why family is importance?
4. What are the factors that brought about changes in family patterns?
5. Effect of sickness in the family. Or How a family is affected when someone in the family
becomes sick?
6. What are the functions of the family during disease?
7. Psychosomatic disease and its importance in physiotherapy.

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