The phenomenology of experiencing non-normative crises of the parent family

Authors

Keywords:

experience, crisis, crisis event, system approach, family system, experience of experience

Abstract

A theoretical review of the problem of personal experience of crisis events is presented. The concept of family crisis is considered as a destabilisation of the family system, leading to its dysfunctionality. Normative (transitional moments between the stages of the family life cycle) and non-normative (significant turns of the family life path) family crises are compared. The article describes constructive and destructive options for responding to a crisis in the family system, as well as the conditions that influence this choice. The author analyses the crisis events that are most common during the period of living in the parent family (divorce, serious illness or death of a family member), reveals the features of the process of experiencing them by children (psychoemotional reactions and behaviours). It is emphasised that as a result of experiencing a family crisis, there is an accumulation of experience, which results in changes in each family member (values, meanings, beliefs, ways of responding to a crisis situation) and the family system as a whole. It is indicated that when providing psychological assistance to family members, it is important to study the content of the experience, as well as to study the consequences of the experience in order to identify factors that promote or hinder their personal growth.

Author Biography

  • Natalia G. Novak, Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, 104 Savieckaja Street, Homieĺ 246019, Belarus

    PhD (psychology), docent; associate professor at the department of social and pedagogical psychology, faculty of psychology and pedagogics

References

  1. Petrovskii AV, Yaroshevskii MG, editors. Kratkii psikhologicheskii slovar’ [Brief psychological dictionary]. Rostov-on-Don: Feniks; 1998. 512 p. Russian.
  2. Pergamenshchik LA. Krizisnaya psikhologiya [Crisis psychology]. Minsk: Vyshjejshaja shkola; 2004. 288 p. Russian.
  3. Vasilyuk FE. Psikhologiya perezhivaniya (analiz preodoleniya kriticheskikh situatsii) [Psychology of experience (analysis of overcoming critical situations)]. Moscow: Lomonosov Moscow State University; 1984. 200 p. Russian.
  4. Kaliteevskaya ER. [Ways of the formation of personality self-determination in adolescence]. Voprosy psikhologii. 2006;3:49–55. Russian.
  5. Abul’khanova-Slavskaya KA. Strategiya zhizni [Life strategy]. Moscow: Mysl’; 1991. 299 p. Russian.
  6. Kryukova TL, Saporovskaya MV, Kuftyak EV. Psikhologiya sem’i: zhiznennye trudnosti i sovladenie s nimi [Family psychology: life difficulties and coping with them]. Saint Petersburg: Rech’; 2005. 240 p. Russian.
  7. Olifirovich NI, Zinkevich-Kuzemkina TA, Velenta TF. Psikhologiya semeinykh krizisov [The psychology of family crises]. Saint Petersburg: Rech’; 2006. 360 p. Russian.
  8. Dombrovskii A, Velenta T. [Family crisis]. Semeinaya psikhologiya i semeinaya terapiya. 2005;3:32-43. Russian.
  9. Chernikov AV. Sistemnaya semeinaya terapiya. Integrativnaya model’ diagnostiki [Systemic family therapy. An integrative diagnostic model]. Moscow: Klass; 2001. 208 p. (Biblioteka psikhologii i psikhoterapii).Russian.
  10. Novak NG. [Siblings experience a family crisis]. In: Pergamenshchik LA, Gladun TI, Goncharova SS, Dontsova SN, Kadyrov RV, Kovalevich IV, et al. Psikhologicheskii kod vyzhivaniya [The psychological code of survival]. Brest: Brestskii gosudarstvennyi universitet; 2015. p. 41–53. Russian.
  11. Slepkova VI. [An event-driven approach to family crises]. In: Tsvetkova LA, Khrustaleva NS, editors. Anan’evskie chteniya – 2008: psikhologiya krizisnykh i ekstremal’nykh situatsii: mezhdistsiplinarnyi podkhod. Materialy nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii; 21–23 oktyabrya 2008 g.; Sankt-Peterburg, Rossiya [Ananiev readings – 2008: psychology of crisis and extreme situations: an interdisciplinary approach. Materials of the scientific and practical conference; 2008 October 21–23; Saint Petersburg, Russia]. Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg State University Publishing House. 2008. p. 32–34. Russian.
  12. Satir V. The new peoplemaking. Mountain View: Science and Behavior Books; 1988. 400 p. Russian edition. Satir V. Kak stroit’ sebya i svoyu sem’yu. Novikova V, Makarushkina MA, translators. Moscow: Pedagogika-Press; 1992. 192 p.
  13. Khomentauskas GT. Sem’ya glazami rebenka [Family through the eyes of a child]. Moscow: Pedagogika; 1989. 160 p. Russian.
  14. Nartova-Bochaver K. [«Coping-behaviour» in the system of concepts of personality psychology]. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal. 1997;18(5):20–30. Russian.
  15. Figdor G. Kinder aus geschiedenen Ehen: zwischen Trauma und Hoffnung. Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag; 1991. 245 S. Russian edition: Figdor G. Deti razvedennykh roditelei: mezhdu travmoi i nadezhdoi (psikhoanaliticheskoe issledovanie). Vidra D, translator. Moscow: Nauka; 1995. 375 p.
  16. Shefov SA. Psikhologiya gorya [The psychology of grief]. Saint Petersburg: Rech’; 2006. 138 p. Russian.
  17. Nagera U. [Children’s reaction to death of significant objects] [Internet; cited 2021 March 31]. 26 p. Available from: http://blog.zabedu.ru/rodsobr/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/01/Нагера-Реакции-детей-на-смерть-значимых-объектов.pdf. Russian.
  18. Gatal’skaya GV, Korotkevich OA, Novak NG. Praktika psikhologicheskoi pomoshchi vzroslym detyam alkogolikov: napravleniya, formy i metody [The practice of psychological assistance to adult children of alcoholics: directions, forms and methods]. Minsk: Amalfeya; 2014. 196 p. Russian.
  19. Rubinshtein SL. Osnovy obshchei psikhologii [Fundamentals of general psychology]. Saint Petersburg: Piter; 2012. 705 p. Russian

Downloads

Published

2021-10-11

Issue

No. 3 (2021): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philosophy and Psychology

Section

Psychological Researches

License

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)

How to Cite

[1]
Novak, N.G. 2021. The phenomenology of experiencing non-normative crises of the parent family. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philosophy and Psychology. 3 (Oct. 2021), 84–91.