Case Study Of Dave's Family

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Dave’s family controlled almost everything in their lives and were able to do so because Dave worked for the family business and was completely dependent on the family financially. Because he didn’t have a college education, it was difficult for him to break off on his own. The family even had Dave and Julie move into a family house that was only a few streets away from the business. Also, Ron was even an ecclesiastical leader in the church which caused even more enmeshment in the family. There were few boundaries between these two families which is problematic. As Harway. 2005, p.50 explains “Partners who have not sufficiently separated from their family of origin court serious interference from well-meaning but intrusive parents.” Dave and Julie didn’t have a …show more content…

A family schema is explained as “those jointly held beliefs among the family members that have formed as a result of years of integrated interaction within the family unit” and that “Schemas are often at the heart of couple and family conflicts” (Dattilio, Frank, 2010. p.59 & 62). Julie believed that she and Dave would have more autonomy. She wanted to create new family traditions, but soon found out that she would just be included in Dave’s family traditions. The unwritten rules she didn’t know about was that she and Dave were expected to spend every holiday and vacation with the Palmer family. For vacations the Palmer family would close down the plumbing business for a week and everyone would go on a vacation together that was planned by the family. Dave was not allowed the time off to go on vacation with just his immediate family. Julie tried to continue her family tradition of beach camping. However, Dave just took enough time off to get the campsite set up for the family and then he would go back to work. He would only come up to the campsite in the evenings and on the

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