Family Systems is a one of a branch in psychotherapy which sprang from Cybernetic theories in its popularity during the sixties. Before the formal conception of this particular branch of psychotherapy, the therapies focused more on the individual and not considering the external stimuli to the subject. Theorists of Family Systems now include various factors as well as the interaction of an individual with one of the basic units of society. A Clinical Approach to Possible Typical Family System Therapy
A family is the basic unit, in a sociological point of view, in a society. This is where the individual would know how to interact with various individuals and as well the environment that the individual is in. As mentioned before, a Family Systems theorist would now look into how an individual would interact with their immediate social group. To further know the root cause, one must understand the background of the individual and his histories before assessing what steps needs to be taken such as the ethnicity of the individual as American writer Paterson (2005) wrote”
Therborn distinguishes five major family systems: European (including New World and Pacific settlements), East Asian, sub-Saharan African, West Asian/North African and Subcontinental, with a further two more “interstitial” ones, Southeast Asian and Creole American. In most Asian and Middle Eastern countries, the role of each family member is clearly defined. Such as the father is always the head of the family, in some cases the eldest living relative (be it male or female) may have some form of authority over their children.
Being male or female in these family systems do have some form of role that one has to play, in these geocultures, being male puts you in high regard than being a female. In most European and Western cultures, ones gender is not an important factor as most Eastern cultures do. One may notice that these family systems also connote major religious beliefs and socio-cultural identities or commonly known as geocultures, this can lead to knowing what set of rules an individual follows or rather live by.
Certain cultures follow certain tradition in governing and managing their respective families, such as in Central Asia the oldest living relative (may it be a great grandfather, a grand aunt, etc) becomes more of the authoritarian figure rather than the immediate father or mother. The old proverb that children are meant to be seen and not heard does come into mind when such families rear their own children as a way of controlling their offsprings’ behavior.