Family Dynamics : When A Man Loves A Woman Essay

Released in the summer of 1994, the movie “When a Man Loves a Women” produced by Touchstone Pictures’ producer Jon Avnet created a film that touches on a female alcoholic. This film included stars like Meg Ryan, Andy Garcia, and Lauren Tom. An airline pilot played by Garcia as Michael and his wife Alice portrayed by Ryan are forced to deal with her alcoholism. Within this family it includes that of her two children and the nanny (Lauren Tom). The film offers several hinting scenes to Alice’s addiction. Alcoholism is a disease of denial, the movie focuses on not only the alcoholic but those around her that deny and have even grown accustomed to her drinking.

Parents who use drugs or alcohol are likely to overlook their children leaving them to their own diplomacy. Since such parents are often lost in their addictions, they are unable to provide the proper leadership that children need particularly throughout their growing days (Sindelar & Fiellin 2001). Teenagers bred in homes where a dear blood relation uses alcohol or drugs, have a superior propensity for developing the dependence afterward, generally because the family is more relaxed in terms of drugs use. The result of alcohol or drug abuse on relations involved and results may differ between families based on a numerous factors. Families affected by substance abuse have one thing in comparison; they reside in homes where traits

According to the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family (2017), the family systems theory is defined as, “a theory that of human behavior that views the family as an emotional unit and uses systems thinking to describe the complex interactions in the unit” (para. 1). When applying the family systems theory to the family that I assessed, I found that this family lacks emotional support from one another. The children in this family feels as if their mother is choosing her addiction over them. Therefore, based on the family systems theory, this family lacks an emotional strong unit. If drug abuse was not a factor in the family dynamics, then they could possibly have a strong family

Love is one of the most prominent themes throughout the novel. From the beginning of the story, Charles, Adam’s younger brother, felt an absence of love from their father. Later on, Cal, Adam’s youngest son, feels an absence of love. Cathy struggles with the concept of love throughout her entire life. Adam believes he has found the true meaning of love, only to have his heart broken. Finally, Aron Trask, Adam’s youngest son, battles in his young relationship with Abra. Each of these instances are different, but they all reveal one major thing-- love is something that is different for each person, and the presence of love is something that many people overlook. The absence of love is something that can have an extreme effect on people. Steinbeck explains, "The greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell he fears. I think everyone in the world to a large or small extent has felt rejection. And with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge for the rejection, and with the crime guilt—and there is the story of mankind” (270). This is one of the most powerful quotes in the entire story. Steinbeck relates every aspect of mankind to the concept of

The film, Precious, is a powerfully charged story that delves into the family dynamics of a 16-year-old girl and her struggles to survive an onslaught of treacherous experiences. Throughout the film, the viewer is enveloped in a dramatic web of extreme situations, experienced by the main character, and those to whom she is close. The themes of domestic violence, rape, incest, drug addiction, gambling, poverty, social justice, social services, housing and education are laced together throughout the story. Particularly poignant attention is paid to various systems that help shape the experiences of the characters. The social services industry, and its associated workers, educators and administrators, set the foundation for the social themes that are highlighted by this film.

In the film, When a Man Loves a Woman, Meg Ryan plays the character Alice Green. Alice is a wife, mother, and school counselor. She is married to the handsome and consistently dependable airline pilot, Michael, played by Andy Garcia. The film illustrates how alcoholism affects a family. Despite the fact that Alice is an exciting and fun person, she is often reckless when drunk and very negligent to her children. She has a difficult relationship with her mom, and alluded that her dad drank excessively and that her mom made her “feel like nothing” (Mandoki, 1994). Alice’s mom makes passive-aggressive remarks such as, after asking Alice if she has lost weight and she says no, “you must be tired” (Mandoki, 1994). As the movie proceeds, the viewer sees multiple occasions where alcohol causes problems with her family. Alice, Michael, and their children, who are sweet and adoring of their parents, live a comfortable life in San Francisco. All the same, Alice drinks too much and is diagnosable as an alcoholic.

This work is meant to study The Family Stone film. The study begins by giving a brief overview of the movie. This constitutes the plot, characters and major themes. The framework and communicative models of the Stone Family are discussed based on many theoretical concepts. The concepts include family development hypothesis; natural systems, relational development and stressor events. The family’s capability of re-adjusting to changes is seen in developmental process through recovery models (Virginia, 2004). Such models are helpful in crisis such as drug addiction. This includes the reaction of family members towards stress.

Gruber, K.J., & Taylor M.F. (2006). A family perspective for substance abuse: Implications from the literature. Journal of Social

These different kinds of love help to make the novel more complex and offer more viewpoints to the story. Family love is a great theme in the novel, and we see it in many forms. For example, we see it in the early chapters between Cecilia and Briony- Cecilia and Briony have an extremely strong relationship that falls apart as the novel progresses. The memory of Cecilia comforting Briony in a nightmare- “It’s only a dream. Come back” in Chapter 3, Page 44 helps tell us about the relationship they have with eachother, and also helps to show how Briony has unconditional support and loyalty to her family. Briony’s fault is that she cannot comprehend the idea that her siblings can be in any way sexual- she fails to see that Cecilia could be in a consenting relationship with Robbie in the library, and she tries to get her brother Leon to “provoke his admiration, and guide him away from a careless succession of girlfriends, and towards the right form of wife”. This strong family love is shown through Briony being undeniably loyal to Cecilia as she calls herself “Cecilia’s protector” and thinks a tragedy will bring them closer together. Everything she does is a step towards protecting her family. Family love is explored through all the characters, and the different relationships offer different viewpoints to the story- Lola and Briony, Robbie and Grace, Emily and Briony...these relationships show pure and strong family love.

Although all sorts of families can be devastated by addiction, but single parent units (the most common lower class structure) are the most obscured. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches supports, “In every family unit, each person plays a role (or multiple roles) to help the family function better and to maintain a level of homeostasis, stability and balance. When substance abuse is added to this dynamic, the family roles naturally shift to adjust to the new behaviors associated with drug or alcohol use, and to continue maintaining order and balance.”4 In single parent units there is an inability of a second parent to fill the void role of the addicted parent. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states, “Frequently, children may act as surrogate spouses for the parent who abuses substances. For example, [young] children may develop elaborate systems of denial to protect themselves against that reality of the parent’s addiction. Because that option does not exist in a single‐parent household with a parent who abuses substances, children are likely to behave in a manner that is not age‐appropriate to compensate for the parental deficiency.”2 So a child growing up in a compromised family unit where addiction is present may develop altered norms and mature into an addict themselves.4

The purpose of this paper is to examine the field of marriage and family counseling beginning with the history and development of the profession and its importance in the field of counseling. This paper will also evaluate five major themes relevant to Marriage and Family Therapy which include: roles of Marriage and Family Therapists; licensure requirements and examinations; methods of supervision; client advocacy; multiculturalism and diversity. The author will discuss significant aspects to the field of Marriage and Family Therapy such as MFT identity, function, and ethics of the profession. This paper will assess biblical values in relation to Marriage and Family Therapists and to the field

When a Man Loves a Woman is movie about a couple and their two children who are dealing with Alice’s (who is the mother) alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse affects all those in direct contact of the alcoholic. Many times the spouse of the alcoholic is an enabler and has codependency issues. Both alcohol and being codependent can break up a home. In this paper, I will discuss the characteristics of codependency and the signs of being codependent, using Michael (who is the husband) as an example. I will also discuss the types of treatment that are available.

Jane Austen shows the readers within the first sentence what the plot and main theme of Pride and Prejudice is and what social ideas she plans on presenting through this novel. The first sentence of Pride and Prejudice stands as one of the most famous introductory lines in literature. It states, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 5). This statement puts the novel in motion by showing that the novel will deal with the pursuit of single wealthy men by various female characters. By stating this, Austen reveals that the reverse is also true in the nineteenth century English society, which is that single women of

Lipsha Morrissey tries to fix the relationship between Grandma and Grandpa Kashpaw using a love medicine, but it ends up killing Grandpa Kashpaw.

Families around the globe have distinct lifestyles when comparing to other families. In a family, stress can become present at any moment in life whether it is based on a recent relative who passed, divorce between partners, financial instability, drugs, etc. Families who are faced with stressors can overcome these issues by a single component, a strength. A couple of families have been able to achieve this purpose and others are not particularly successful. The goal of the paper is to state how alcohol consumption amongst families can affect them negatively, but the strength to surpass this problem is to treat the alcohol complication through couple therapy.