Comparación del grado de disfuncionalidad en la estructura de familias con y sin paciente identificado

Abstract

The purpose of this transversal, descriptive, and nonexperimental research was to try to find the differences between families with a member who is identified as a “problem” (PI), and assists to psychological treatment; and families without an identified “problem” member. The structural model was followed. It was found that the families without an identified patient usually maintain specific patterns in their structure: clear boundaries with a parental shared hierarchy; a parental alliance, no coalitions, triangulations, or overinvolvement. 88 voluntary interviews with families (44 with PI, 44 without PI) under the interview framework proposed by Montalvo-Soria. The families that identify a member as a problem generally have dysfunctional structure, where the following features are perceived: Diffuse or rigid boundaries, no parental alliance; incongruent hierarchy; coalitions with the sons; negative centrality; conflicts; overinvolvement; and some peripheral member. The degree of dysfunctionality in families with an identified patient (5.77) was much larger than the one found in families without an identified patient (1.55), with the difference being statistically significant. The study concludes that the results support the hypothesis of the structural model in the sense that a family with a dysfunctional structure yields with a larger probability a member with psychological problems.