A Couple Interview with Regina and Mike Smith Essay

Regina is a 14 year old girl (female), of Italian descendancy from her mother’s side from her father his identity is unknown. Regina is the third oldest out of five children, she has two older half sisters Cherie age of 22 years old and Camille of age 17. A younger half brother Norman of age 13 and the youngest of the family Rose of age 8. Regina did not grow with knowing who her father was, her mom regained custody of her and her older sisters at age three. When she started to live with her mother - who she addresses as cookie, with cookie’s boyfriend Vito, her older half sisters and younger half brother. The abuse from her mother started the same day she had regained custody. Her

In reading the work by Cloud & Townsend (1999) I found no real weaknesses but only strengths on how to improve a person’s marriage. Boundaries in Marriage are not only for the couples that are experiencing current problems; but for the newlyweds, more seasoned couples, and for the ones who are not yet married. Regardless of the persons situation being able to learn what boundaries are and why they are needed is an important part of a healthy marriage. Cloud & Townsend (1999) describes the values that a person must have in order to have a healthier marriage, this is a strength because they require a person to form a relationship that is closer to God first. If we put God first in our lives in not only

Uncle Mike was a graduate; he was two courses away from a master’s degree. He went into the military as infantry. In high school he was outgoing and popular. He was always trying to go out of his way to help someone in need. In his teenage years he was a paperboy, worked in the press and graveyard. Uncle Mike was hard working, he also did side jobs for money such as, babysitting, washing cars, and cutting

    In their book, Boundaries in Marriage, the authors, Cloud and Townsend, present a theoretical model for maintaining healthy relationships, specifically marriage relationships. This examination of Cloud and Townsend’s approach to maintaining healthy relationships summarizes both the theoretical and theological orientation of their proposed model, compares their approach to the model proposed by Sandra Wilson in her book, Hurt people hurt people, and considers the model in the context of Dr. Hawkins concentric circle theory of personality, and parents a critique with regard to some’ of the perceived strengths and

As stated in our text, various factors can bind married couples together, such as economic interdependencies, legal, social and moral constraints, relationship, and amongst other things. In the recent years some of these factors have diminished their strengths. The modern generation sees marriage in a different perspective altogether. Individuals today feel they are stable independently, they do not need to rely on their spouse for emotional or financial support. Many are career driven and soar to conquer their dreams over settling down with a family. Such untraditional views have increased divorce rates.

Marriage has been constantly changing over the past centuries. Currently, trends in marriage have adopted a new way of getting married through splitting responsibilities and work, resulting in social freedom for individuals. "The Myth of Co-Parenting,” by Hope Edelman demonstrates the difficulties of taking all the responsibilities while in “ My Problem with Her Anger,” explains the needs of having a better understanding of each other. Due to marriage changing over the last centuries, marriage couples desire individuals’ expectations and freedom to be met in marriage.

In life many individuals will experience the joys of marital bliss with the pleasure of happiness when they see their spouse, the thought of living their entire lives together, starting and raising a family, the process of buying their first home together as a married couple, and overall embarking on a new and profound journey with the one they love; on the contrary however many of these same couples will encounter times in the relationship and within their immediate family that will include feelings of: being overwhelmed, stressed, annoyed with their spouse, children, stepchildren “as many families are blended due to many first marriages ending in divorce after children have been conceived,” stress from work, bills, as well as the many other

Mike Rose shares his personal experiences about his family members that continue to overcome

Marriage requires effort and work. Many newlyweds come into a marriage thinking it is easy but do not consider the consequences of marriage that heavily rely on balances and partnership. Marriage is all about compromise. It is important to engage in a premarital program to allow both partners to learn what to expect within a marriage, how to face certain roadblocks, and to better communication when conflict is aroused so that divorce does not become an option. Gottman’s research (2009) has made a significant contribution to the study of relationship and marriage tying unity, harmony, and communication together to make relationship and marriage work. When a couple who does not have consummate love (intimacy, passion, and commitment), they often portray the six indicators of divorce: harsh startup, the Four Horsemen, flooding, body language, failed repair attempts and reflecting on bad memories (Gottman, 2009). Divorce often occurs within the first two years of marriages and almost half of divorces end within the first seven years (Bhutto-Ramirez, 2015).

Makayla Harper was an average 35 year old that was hard working and had a wonderful family. She was married to Nicholas Harper and they have a 22 month old baby girl. Makayla worked at Maine General as a PA and work was a big part of her life. She started working at Maine General at age 20 and has moved up the line there as she went through college. Makayla married her husband on New Year's Eve in 2012. She had many hobbies as a women that was so dedicated to her work, she raced her Prostock, rode horses, and took care of her baby girl. Makayla was a person that everyone had a soft spot for she was strong and sweet. But she had her amount of people that didn't enjoy her at the race track, because of her Competitiveness.

Conversely, most people perceive marriage as a sanctuary, satisfying the needs of both partners involved. It is one of the most important institutions affecting people’s health and well-being. Firstly, a strong marriage has a dramatic effect on the partners’

Contemporary Home, by Jack O. Balswick and Judith K. Balswick comprise of various approaches in biblical, theological, cultural, and sociological perspectives. The author focus is strictly to “integrated view of contemporary family life based on current social-science research, clinical insights, and biblical truth. The background of the author’s work is from a previous edition upgraded with current changes in our “modern society including a section on marriage, mate selection, cohabitation, expansion of family life, parenting, rearing children, adolescent, challenges of the later-life premarital cohabitation, recognition of the importance of biosocial influence, and the interactive effect of bio-psycho-socio-cultural factors to understand family dynamics. The audience of this book are for families and marriage in conflict, every life stage, maintaining balance through the joys, pains, ups, and downs,

Blended families are created from a diverse sets of needs as a result of family life changes, such as divorce or death, and these changes result in situations where both adults and children find themselves living with step-family members stemming from both sides of the no longer intact family structure. Deal (2014), a leading author and marriage therapist, likens the blended family to a 3-D puzzle that a person is trying to complete without the benefit of instructions or even a picture as a point of reference. Each family is different in roles and their structure; however, most members desire healthy outcomes and basic principles for creating well-functioning family units.

When a couple agrees to counseling to help their marriage, one of the first things sought after would be to resolve differences that are weighing heavy on the marriage. In this case, Steve and Cindy have started on a journey through taking the PREPARE/ENRICH program. The tests and answers are detailed to the couples characteristics and personalities and cover the couples strengths and weaknesses. This case study analysis will separate the case into three main topics of discussion. Their strengths and weaknesses will be highlighted first then potential conflicts or problems will be discussed and finally a

Gottman highlights that the integration of active listening and conflict resolution techniques is not sufficient to safeguard marriages from a probable divorce. Due to that couples who have to develop throughout the years a high level of resentment in their relationship usually fails in mending the relationship through communication alone. Therefore, Gottman suggests that couples should primarily focus on constructing positive feeling, mutual experiences, and in solving their difficulties and barriers (Gottman, J. and Silver, N., 2000).