Pseudohostility in Family Systems

Name of Concept

Pseudohostility

Introduction

Families affected by schizophrenia have been compared to unaffected families in order to learn about how the emotional and relational dynamics unique to these families may contribute to the manifestation of schizophrenia. During the mid-1950’s, research shifted its focus from schizophrenic symptoms as an intrapsychic disorder, or within an individual, to an interpersonal phenomenon shaped by family communication sequences (Goldenberg and Goldenberg 2012). Lyman Wynne and his colleagues (1958, 1963) investigated the social organization and often blurred, ambiguous, and confused communication patterns in families with schizophrenic members.

Theoretical Context for Concept

One of the major contributions by Wynne and his colleagues was that families affected by schizophrenia deal with emotions, both positive and negative, in inauthentic ways (Goldenberg and Goldenberg 2012). Wynne believed that the distinct sequences of communication in...