HUMAN DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES: AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Developmental stages among Africans seem to be defined according to age and

capabilities of an individual at a given period that is, readiness to take up a given task

Rituals and Festivals

 A ritual is a set form of carrying out a religious action or ceremony – embodies a

belief or beliefs
 There are many rituals and ceremonies in African Religion because in African
there are no sacred books but a living religion written in people’s lives. Rituals
and festivals demonstrate African Religion
 Different kind of rituals such as personal rituals (birth to death rituals)

Stages

a) Birth and infancy

b) Initiation period
c) Marriage and Family Life

1. Birth and infancy

1.1 Birth

 A child is joyously hailed- greatest blessings of life

 Midwives at the time of delivery
 Men are absent at the arrival of the baby – women affair
 Give birth standing, sitting down, lying down
 Sex of the baby through screams
 Disposal of the placenta religious link between the baby and the mother
 Period between birth and weaning so weaning is used as a measure to determine a
child’s readiness for the next stage – opposed to Erickson theory
 Child’ father is not allowed to see his offspring but informed of its arrival- aimed
at preventing evildoers casing harm to the child through the father.
 Psychologically, this security and pampering helps the child feel welcomed and
develop a trusting environment. Ritual are performed to adjust the child to the
new environment
 Rituals (medicine man or diviner) for protection, purifications and thanksgiving
and preparation for the mother’s next birth
 Protection against magic, sorcery, witchcraft, evil eye next child birth
 Protective objects tied on the neck, waist or arm of the baby

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1.2 Naming

 Naming of the baby ceremony - attended by family members, neighbors and

friends- in African naming is part of the personality of the person
 Names have meaning in Africa societies – gotten from departed relative to make
the latter come back
 Reflect the feelings of the parents to mark the occasion of the child’ birth
 Relate to the time of birth
 Describe the child or its background

2. Initiation period
 Period of physical, emotional and psychological changes
 Movement from childhood to adolescences
 Initiation ceremonies; circumcision for boys and clitoridectomy ( viewed as
abusive of human rights)
 Painful operation and one is considered as a child without it no matter how old
 Communal participation

2.1 Meaning of Initiation

 Shedding blood- bond between the person the land, departed persons and society
 Individual recognized as an adult by passing from childhood to adulthood and
enjoys responsibilities in the community – enhances self- esteem
 Gateway to marriage - seclusion period during initiation one taught how to raise a
family, traditions and life of the community
 Bridge between youth and adulthood – stage of incorporation into the community,
fatherhood and motherhood
 Signifies separation and the end of dependency to parents. Helps to identify with
peer groups- promotes autonomy
 Social and collective achievement among initiates – encourages cohesiveness

3. Marriage and Family Life

 It is an obligation to bear children- every normal person must get married
 Uniting the rhythm of life – past, present and future generations
 Building of the family- supreme purpose is to bear children
 New relationships between families- web of kinship
 Remembrance of parents after death – continuous of life beyond death
 Regaining a lost immortality – the departed are reborn
 Giving status or self-esteem - married persons are considered full persons in the
community. It gives completeness – makes a person somebody.

FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY

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 Murray Bowen (1913- 1990) was the first and only psychiatrist to describe a
theory explaining human behavior. He trained at Menninger and in 1954; Bowen
became the first director of the Family Division at the National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH). His research record and theory are well known.

Murray Bowen Family System Theory is one of several family models developed
by mental health pioneers in the decade or so following the Second World War.
For a short postwar period of time, drug therapy was not yet effective and parents
were still implicated in their child’s behavior.

Bowen hypothesized that the functioning of schizophrenic patients was associated

to the interactions of the other members of their families. By hospitalizing
families he was able to conceptualize that schizophrenia had something to with
the mother-child relationships. He concluded that schizophrenia had something to
do with the entire family unit. He showed the way social relationships on human
beings, in family groups affects the functioning of the each individual member.

In spite of its roots in schizophrenia1 research, elements of Murray Bowen’s

theory have been included by corporate, church, community, and coaching
programs for their organizational personnel training. His work survives because
he provided a comprehensive theory that explained many people’s behavior and
emotionality in groups. Bowenian ideas have been found useful for understanding
volunteer, religious, and business organizations and the people who work for
them.

Family Systems Theory

In the 1950s Dr. Murry Bowen introduced a transformational theory, Family

Systems Theory. According to Bowen, a family is a system in which each
member had a role to play and rules to respect. Members of the system are
expected to respond to each other in a certain way according to their role, which is
determined by relationship agreements. Within the boundaries of the system,
patterns develop as certain family member's behavior is caused by and causes
other family member's behaviors in predictable ways. Maintaining the same
pattern of behaviors within a system may lead to balance in the family system, but
also to dysfunction.

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Schizophrenia is mental disorder that involves a breakdown in thinking and poor emotional responses.
Commonly it is characterized by delusions such as paranoia (suspicion); hearing voices or noises that are
not there; disorganized thinking; a lack of emotion and motivation. Symptoms begin in young adulthood. It
is diagnosed through observable behavior and individuals’ reported experiences.

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 For example, if a husband is depressive and cannot pull himself together, the wife
may need to take up more responsibilities to pick up the loose. The change in
roles may maintain the stability in the relationship, but it may also push the family
towards a different equilibrium. This new equilibrium may lead to dysfunction as
the wife may not be able to maintain this overachieving role over a long period of
time.

Family Systems Theory Terms

a) Family Roles
b) Family Rules
c) Homeostasis/Equilibrium

Family Roles - what is expected of each family member

The most basic types of roles are “father,” “mother,” “aunt,” “daughter,” “son,”
“grandmother,” etc. What is expected from people in each of these roles?

But there are also roles beyond this most basic level. For example, one person
may be the “clown” of the family. Another person may be the “responsible one.”
One person may be the “emotional one.” Another role might be “crazy Uncle Joe”
who everyone knows is going to act odd in his own unique way. There are a lot
of different roles in families

Family Rules

i) Family Rules are rules about how the family operates; these rules are often
unspoken. For example…
 When people are angry at each other, do they express this or keep it to
themselves?
 How affectionate or emotional are family members expected or allowed to be
with each other?
 How do decisions get made in the family? Who has input and who is
expected to “just go along”? How is the final decision made?
 Are there limits on “how much” or in what ways kids can argue with their
parents?
 How much are family members “allowed” to talk to people outside the family
about family problems?

ii) Families tend to develop patterns about these sorts of things (& other similar
types of things). These patterns become “unspoken rules.” Family members
may see these things as “just the way it is,” but different families do these
things differently from one another.

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 iii) Homeostasis – Equilibrium
 Systems develop typical ways of being which are reliable and predictable.
Family roles & family rules are examples of what I mean by “typical ways of
being.”
 Whether these roles & rules are adaptive or not, there is a pull from the system
NOT to CHANGE—but to continue functioning as things have always been.
 Think of the mobile. If you move one part, the other parts move. But if you
let go of that one part, the whole “system” (i.e., the parts of the mobile) will
“pull each other” back to the way they were before that one part moved.
 This tendency of systems to keep doing things as they’ve already been done is
known as homeostasis or the system’s equilibrium.

Interlocking Concepts of Bowen Family Systems Theory

The eight interlocking concepts of Bowen Theory include:

 Differentiation of Self
 Triangles
 Nuclear Family Emotional Process
 Family Projection Process
 Cutoff
 Multigenerational Transmission Process
 Sibling Position
 Societal Emotional Process.

1) Differentiation of Self

Differentiation of self describes how people cope with life's demands and pursue
their goals on a continuum from most adaptive to least. Variations in this
adaptiveness depend on several connected factors, including the amount of solid
self, the part of self that is not negotiable in relationships. For example, a person
with well thought out principles enhances solid self, and will not be swayed by
fads or opinions. A person with less solid self will feel more pressure to think,
feel, and acts like the other. This fusion between two people generates more
chronic anxiety as one becomes more sensitive to what the other thinks, feels, and
does. Acute anxiety also plays a role. A fairly well differentiated person can
develop symptoms under acute anxiety, but will probably return to adaptive
functioning soon after. A less differentiated person may live in a stress free
environment and therefore function quite well for long periods of time.

Level of differentiation refers to the degree to which a person can think and act
for self while in contact with emotionally charged issues. It also refers to the

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 degree to which a person can discern between thoughts and feelings. At higher
levels of differentiation, people maintain separate, solid selves under considerable
stress and anxiety. They manage their own reactivity and choose thoughtful
actions. At lower levels of differentiation, people depend on others to function,
and they develop significant symptoms under stress. They act, often destructively,
based on anxious reactions to the environment. Their intellectual reasoning fuses
with emotionality. Even highly intelligent people can be poorly differentiated.

One cannot actually measure level of differentiation because it requires

observation of multiple areas of functioning over a life course. However, the scale
gives a way of conceptualizing variability in coping among people. For example,
the concept gives a way of thinking about variability in the functioning among
children of the same parents.

Some may think Bowen Theory appears too deterministic, but it actually
promotes personal agency and improving one's life, the life of one's children, and
the life of one's family. The process of differentiating a self involves a conscious
effort at strengthening or raising the amount of solid self by defining beliefs and
principles, managing anxiety and reactivity, and relating differently to the family
system. People engaged in these efforts reap positive benefits for their own
functioning, and they automatically raise the level of differentiation in the whole
system.

2) Triangles

Triangles are the basic molecule of human relationship systems. A two-person

dyad becomes unstable once anxiety increases. Then, one or both members of the
dyad usually pulls in a third person to relieve some of the pressure. In a three-
person system, anxiety has more places to go, and the relationship where it
originated experiences some relief. When the three-person system can no longer
contain the anxiety, it involves more people and forms a series of interlocking
triangles. Bowen researchers consider triangles a natural function of living
systems. Triangles can have either negative or positive outcomes depending on
how their members manage anxiety and reactivity. Bowen postulated that if one
member of the triangle remains calm and in emotional contact with the other two,
the system automatically calms down. On the other hand, with enough stress and
reactivity, members lock into a triangular position, and develop symptoms.

3) Nuclear Family Emotional Process

The nuclear family manages differentiation and anxiety with conflict, distance,
over and under functioning reciprocity, which at extremes can lead to dysfunction
in a spouse, and child focus. People engaged in conflict fight, argue, blame and

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 criticize each other. Partners who distance tend to be emotionally unavailable and
to avoid potentially uncomfortable, though important, topics. Reciprocity in
relationships occurs when one person takes on responsibilities for the twosome.
The two people slide into over adequate and under adequate roles. This can
become so extreme that one partner becomes incapacitated either with an illness
of a general lack of direction. Child focus is discussed more under the next
concept.

4) Family Projection Process

The fixed triangle is evident in the family projection process, where parents in a
nuclear family focus anxiety on a child and the child develops problems. Parents
then usually attempt to get the child to change or they ask an expert to "fix" the
child. Experienced Bowen family systems consultants report that when parents
can instead manage their own anxiety and resolve their own relationship issues,
the functioning of the child automatically improves.

5) Emotional Cutoff

An extreme distancing posture constitutes the concept of emotional cutoff, where

family members discontinue emotional contact with each other. This has
significant implications for the functioning of future generations, as the emotional
family unit is severed in such a way that anxiety has fewer places to be absorbed
in the extended family system. Consequently, chronic anxiety increases. People
look for other relationships to substitute for the cut off relationship. These new
relationships intensify and people become vulnerable to symptoms.

6) Multigenerational Transmission Process

Differentiation of Self is transmitted through the multigenerational transmission

process. This concept describes patterns of emotional process through multiple
generations. It offers a way of thinking about family patterns that goes beyond a
dichotomy of genes versus environment. One of the ways family patterns are
transmitted across generations is through relationship triangles.

7) Sibling Position

Sibling position, a concept which Bowen adopted from the research of Walter
Toman, affects variation in basic and functional levels of differentiation as well.
Oldest, youngest, and middle children tend toward certain functional roles in
families, influenced also by the particular mix of sibling positions in it and the
sibling positions of parents and other relatives.

8) Societal Emotional Process

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 The last concept Bowen developed is societal emotional process. It refers to the
tendency of people within a society to be more anxious and unstable at certain
times than others. Environmental stressors like overpopulation, scarcity of natural
resources, epidemics, economic forces, and lack of skills for living in a diverse
world are all potential stressors that contribute to a regression in society.

FAMILY THERAPY PROBLEMS

What is Family Therapy?

“Family therapy is centered on the family system and the changes that can be
made in that system. The patient is the family and its interaction and the
individual member is more a symptom of sick system.” (Foley V.D., An
Introduction to Family Therapy, 3, 1974)

Family therapy addresses the problems people present within the context of their
relationships with significant persons in their lives and their social networks. It is
a well-recognized psychotherapeutic approach, primarily concerned with the
family system as a social unit, in contrast to other psychotherapy approaches such
as psychodynamic or cognitive-behavioral therapy, which focus on the individual.

The family can be both a great source of support for people but also a source of
distress, misunderstanding and pain. Therefore family therapy is important
whenever the aim is to enhance the ability of family members to support each
other. Any problem of an individual that affects his/her life in relation to his/her
relationships to family and wider contexts will benefit from family therapy.

Some of the issues or situations a family could benefit from through family therapy are
listed below.

 Health problems, particularly chronic physical illnesses

 Psychosomatic problems
 Child and adolescent mental health
 Adult mental health
 Psychosexual difficulties
 Alcohol and other substance abuse
 Marital problems including separation and divorce issues
 Foster care, adoption and related issues
 Issues involving the Family’s life cycle and transitional stages of life
 Promoting parenting skills and family functioning
 School-related problems
 Work-related problems
 Traumatic experiences, loss and bereavement

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  Disruption of family life due to social, political and religious conflicts

1. Abuse/Survivors of Abuse

Living through a period of physical, sexual, or severe emotional abuse can leave
psychic wounds that can be harder to heal than a bodily injury. Whether the abuse
was inflicted as a child or an adult, survivors often struggle to cope and lead
happy, peaceful lives. Therapy is a proven aid in understanding, expressing,
integrating, and letting go of the pain and confusion that may stem from abusive
experiences.

2. Addictions and Compulsions

Compulsive behavior is not limited to substance abuse. Chronic gambling, sexual

addictions, internet addiction, and a myriad of other, less widely known habitual
behaviors are more common than one might suspect. A compulsion is any
behavior a person wishes not to carry out, but is unable to stop due to feelings of
great anxiety and distress, which arise when the person abstains from the
compulsive behavior.

3. Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Research indicates that the vast majority of people who are addicted to drugs or
alcohol have an underlying mental health condition or significant
emotional/psychological difficulty, and about half of people with mental health
diagnoses will face challenges with drugs or alcohol at some point in their life,
usually as a form of self-medication. Addiction is difficult to treat, and there is a
good deal of controversy about the causes and best approaches to treatment of
drug and alcohol addiction.

4. Sexuality / Sex Therapy

Sexuality is a reality of life. People often seek therapy for issues related directly
or indirectly to sex. Talking about sex and sexuality is often part of the experience
of therapy. Various difficulties related to sexuality may lead people to seek
therapy or the issues may simply arise during the course of treatment. To name
just a few examples:

 Anxiety about sex

 Unwanted sexual impulses or compulsions
 Impotence
 Lack of sexual desire
 Anxiety or uncertainty about sexual orientation
 Conflicting or imbalanced sexual desires between partners

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  Recovery from sexual abuse or sexual assault
 Loneliness
 Body image issues
 Promiscuity

5. Relationships and Marriage

All relationships require work--the work of communication, compromise, and

compassion. When a relationship seems to require more work than the partners
can offer on their own, but there is a desire to maintain the relationship, a couple
may seek professional assistance. People may also seek relationship counselling
for premarital counseling, parenting issues, changes in the nature of the
relationship (regarding monogamy and other commitments, for instance), divorce
counseling, terminal illness of one partner, and many other reasons.

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