Family Systems

It was really interesting learning all about family systems in class this week. It is kind of difficult for me to put my family under a certain family theory but I feel like there is a bit of all of them in my family.
I really liked the concept of family mapping and the subsets that each family has. I have a fairly small family I have grown up living with just my mom, sister, and myself. Now that my sister is married, and Im not living at home its difficult to really have a definite family map. But, I do remember a time when I was fairly young, about 8 to 12, when I was the problem child. I really had difficulty controlling my emotions and I could be a real pill. So, during that stage in my life I definitely separated myself from my family and had trouble relating to them. I really felt like my mom and sister were together and both against me. I put up a rigid boundary, and excluded myself. I was even brought in to have counseling one on one with a psychologist but I feel like it didn't do much good. Of course by now I have grown out of whatever stage I was in and completely get along with, and have no problems with my mom or sister.
We discussed in class how one person with a problem really effects everyone else in the family unit, that is so true. I wish that when I was going through hard times that my family would have had family counseling not just personal counseling for myself. I didn't know how beneficial it could have been. I think it really makes a lot of sense though. Because how we interact with one another as a family is really important and makes all the difference. It is great that all families through the help of counseling can change and grow closer together. I think its awesome that changes that can occur within families.