FAMILY TRANSITIONS AND FAMILY MOVES
The Double ABCX model provides a tool for assessing post-crisis variables in families. Interestingly, not all families go into crisis but instead they achieve a balance in functioning by either bonadapting or maladapting. While others may go into crisis and maladapt which was the situation with my family 30 years ago.
A brief background of my family will provide some meaning to our family structure. My parents were both born and raised in Muncie, Indiana at a time when the economy was not strong. My father was the fourth of five siblings in a household dominated by a physically abusive and alcoholic father. My mother lost both of her parents at a young age. I would learn later in life that my father
For example, during the summer after my father would complete his graveyard shift, he would hook the camper up to the truck while we were sleeping and drive us to the beach for a day of fun in the sun. He did this on a regular basis. My mother began to network with people at work and eventually we moved out of the camper into a very small fixer-upper home next door to the campground. This allowed my mother to continue working close by and my father maintained his position at the hospital. My sister, brother and I began to make new friends at school and within the neighborhood. The campground also provided us with opportunities to network with children from different parts of the country.
POST CRISIS (1969-1979)
I began to become very focused on my father and I noticed he was slowly beginning to isolate himself from the family. Routinely he would wake up in the mid-afternoon after working all night and go for long walks. Our house was surrounded by fields that would later be stripped away for a freeway. He also took long bike rides. Perhaps, this was the consequence of him trying to cope with whatever issue he did not resolve while living in Indiana. Sometimes my mother would get very angry because she would plan a picnic and he would not return form these activities until late in the afternoon. I do not remember my parents communicating their feelings about this conflict. Instead, my