Several points need to be made about these initial chapters: First, what appears to be the "truth" behind a problem may just be a manifestation of the issue, not the issue itself.
David and Carolyn are overcompensating by being cool and controlled and Claudia is overcompensating by being more emotional. In the second therapy session, it is clarified that Claudia's issues are a way for her parents to express their marital problems. Also, in this first session, it is recognized that Claudia is put in between her mother and father, although she wants to think that her father was always on her side. Further, after talking with Laura, they find that she is afraid of Claudia's suicide and her parents' potential divorce. The therapists also discover from Don that Carolyn uses him as a sounding board for family problems and David does the same with Claudia, rather than talk with each other. The only way to stop the arguing is for Don to pick on Laura and get her to cry. What does the family have to do with it?ĭon describes a typical situation where the problem begins with Claudia and her mother and ends with the whole family having a "lousy" dinner at best and Claudia leaving and his parents having an argument at worst. This is difficult for David, since he and the other family members believe that the main problem is with Claudia. Therapist Carl Whitaker then asks David to go beyond Claudia's concerns to that of the family. As he continues, Claudia's anger turns to tears. As he talks, the father becomes more assertive and then aggressive - which turns out to be the anguish that parents feel when they are fearful for their children. He soon explains that Claudia's problems may be of most importance, but there is a lot more taking place than that. The therapy begins by involving the father, who would have been more than pleased to have relinquished responsibility at this point. The book consists of the ongoing therapy of the "Brice" family, which consists of the parents (David and Carolyn), adolescent daughter (Claudia), six-year-old daughter (Laura), and 11-year-old son (Don). It is then that the family as a whole has to determine how to rebuild itself, if possible. In the Family Crucible by Napier and Whitaker, the daughter becomes so depressed that psychological help is required. They are so wrapped up in their day-to-day difficulties, that the rest of the family becomes secondary. Oftentimes, when spouses begin to have difficulties with their marriage, they lose track of the impact that their arguments have on the children.
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