The Long-Term Effects of Living in a Shared and Continuous Traumatic Reality: The Case of Israeli Families on the Border With Gaza

This article presents a literature review of the concept of intergenerational transmission of traumatic stress among a specific population of Israeli parents and children living near the Israeli/Gaza border, an area that can essentially be viewed as a laboratory of shared, continuous, and stressful reality resulting from ongoing political violence. The Google Scholar database was used to search only for peer-reviewed articles written in English and published between 2002 and 2020, and the particular focus of the study was Israeli families living in the “Gaza envelope”: communities that have been on the receiving end of rockets and mortars from Gaza for the past 20 years. The review was based on 35 articles and sheds light on the existence of studies using a variety of perspectives (e.g., psychological, biopsychosocial, and behavioral). Findings demonstrate the effects of continuous stress situations on the family dynamic, even before birth, among this small population. In addition, they show that to understand the unique process of intergenerational trauma transmission in a shared continuous traumatic reality, it is important to adopt a comprehensive perspective so as to understand the reciprocal, long-lasting, and transgenerational effects of being exposed to traumatic stress. This perspective can be used as a basis for developing family intervention strategies that are appropriate for preventing stress outcomes that derive from living in the context of persistent violence.

There Was a Young Woman Who Lived in a Shoe: Understanding the Juxtaposition of Love, Hate, And Patriarchal ConfinementIn Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy”

In the opening of Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” one glimpses a troubled young woman struggling to break free from patriarchal confinement. In a stark play on imagery, she equates her tomb of darkness to a “black shoe” where she has submissively “lived like a foot//Barely daring to breathe or Achoo” for her entire life (Plath 2-3,5). Plath opens the poem with an oppressive tone of confinement. Her tone is that of a victim unable to break free from the powerful pressing of her father. The daughter is acknowledging her life-long imprisonment through the image of conformity and obedience. Her testimony, “You do not do, you do not do/Anymore.” is an awakening, an ethereal understanding, she is no longer satisfied with being under her father’s foot (Plath 1-2). She mocks her submissiveness and fear by “Barely daring to breathe.” or express her autonomy outside of the domineering treatment designated by her father (Plath 5). “Daddy” juxtaposes the extremely childish and infantile dependency on the image of father versus the inherent desire to break free from the entrapment of masculine dominance. As Maher Mahdi points out in the article “From a Victim of the Feminine Mystique,” Plath is using “aspects of objectification” to create a breakdown of the typical family dynamic between father and daughter (98). The struggle is real, vigorous, and traumatic to the daughter speaking blatantly throughout the lines of “Daddy.” The battle rages as father and daughter fight metaphorically within the confines of the speaker’s mind. Plath offers the war-torn country as a backdrop to ease the reader into a sense of disquiet and upheaval. There is something obscenely immature in her attachment to the deceased father. She loves and hates him, desires her independence yet craves the security of her dependency, and she longs for him and yet strives to exorcise his demon from within her own soul. This emotional upheaval allows the reader to assess the speaker’s mental anguish and analyze “Daddy” on a more complex level. This study will explore 1) The juxtaposition of victim versus villain in the familial relationship of father and daughter; 2) The daughter’s search for autonomy and her unhealthy Oedipus complex; 3) Establishing identity beyond infantile attachment, or as Maher Mahdi points out, breaking free from immaturity requires a certain amount of viciousness in order for the daughter’s true liberation (Mahdi 100); 4) The exposure of the Jekyll and Hyde persona, which is noted by Isabelle Travis as the “blurred line” between recognizing the issues and finding one’s own part in the familial downfall (Travis 279).

Legal Literacy for Muslim Converts in Malaysia

Many Muslim converts in Malaysia are not well-informed of their rights and the legal implications of conversion to Islam. Implementing legal pluralism, particularly the different sets of personal laws that apply to Muslims and non-Muslims, sends the converts, their non-Muslim families, and the religious authorities into bitter legal battles whenever an individual converts to Islam. Furthermore, as religious institutions currently offer no legal literacy program, some Muslim converts are unclear regarding the course of action they should take whenever legal issues are involved, especially from the aspects of identity change; civil marriage dissolution; matrimonial properties distribution; child custody and guardianship; determination of child’s and the deceased’s religion; and inheritance and derivative pension distribution. Therefore, this research explores Muslim converts’ perspectives on the need for and development of legal literacy regarding rights and legal implications of conversion to Islam. This study employed in-depth semi-structured interviews with 9 participants who were all Muslim converts. Each interview was transcribed verbatim, and the data were analysed with NVIVO software based on a thematic approach. The research found that all participants unanimously agreed to empower Muslim converts with legal literacy, considering many are not well-informed of the legal implications of conversion to Islam, despite it directly affecting their personal lives, family dynamic, and the multicultural society in Malaysia.

Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, and Occupational Performance in Family Members Who Are the Caretakers of Patients with Dementia in Spain: A Cross-Sectional, Analytical, and Descriptive Study

Background: The concern in the scientific community for the study of people with dementia and their families is comprehensible, especially the importance of knowing the effects that caring for the patient has on their family dynamic, paying special attention to the main caregiver. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship of resilience and emotional intelligence with functional performance in the main caregivers of people with dementia in Spain according to the phase of the disease. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was carried out. A total of 144 primary family caregivers of patients with dementia in Spain were included in the study. The following variables were measured: sociodemographic, psychosocial, and occupational, as well as resilience and emotional intelligence. Results: The caregivers obtained a low moderate resilience (mean = 64.01 ± 14.5), an emotional intelligence bordering between moderate and high (mean = 78.48 ± 14.82), and a 61.8% self-care categorized as somewhat and quite a bit. The presence of higher levels of resilience in family caregivers of people with dementia were positively related to the time spent on self-care (r = 0.227; p = 0.033) and leisure (r = 0.262; p = 0.014), especially in the moderate phase of the disease, while in the severe phase, this relationship appeared with productivity (r = 0.355; p = 0.034). The higher levels of emotional intelligence were positively related to a greater time dedicated to self-care (r = 0.233, p = 0.005), as well as the data observed in the moderate and severe phase (r = 0.214; p = 0.046 and r = 0.398; p = 0.016 respectively). Conclusions: The primary caregivers of relatives with dementia who have higher levels of resilience and emotional intelligence spend more time on self-care and leisure activities, especially in the moderate phase of the disease.

A Comparison of MMPI-2 Profiles Between Parental Alienation Cases and Custody Cases

The present study aimed at understanding the personality features of mothers and fathers engaged in parental alienation—a family dynamic in which one parent behaves in a way that foments a child’s unfounded emotional rejection of the other parent. The process is considered a complex form of child psychological maltreatment, with significant negative consequences. In cases of conflictual separation and divorce, parental alienation can be difficult—yet important—to identify. In this context, use of psychological assessment to understand parents’ personality characteristics may facilitate the early identification of parental alienation and related abuses. A comparative analysis of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 profiles of 41 couples engaged in parental alienation and 39 control couples (i.e., not involved in parental alienation) was used to assess the personality characteristics of mothers and fathers engaged in parental alienation. The results indicated that mothers who were classified as alienating presented a faking-good defensive profile, denied hostile and negative impulses, blamed others for their problems, and displayed excessive sensitivity. On the other side, fathers who were classified as targets of alienating behaviors were adapted to chronic depressive states, social isolation, and interpersonal conflict. The results suggest that the personality profile of parents involved in parental alienation may provide useful insight for custodial cases, prevent further abuse, and contribute to improving psychological and rehabilitative programs. Clinical and forensic implications are discussed.

Creating a family state of mind: using psychoanalytic ideas to treat families where children resist or refuse contact with a parent

Separated families, where children resist or refuse visitation with one parent, present a complex treatment picture for clinicians. Application of psychoanalytic concepts can increase the clinician's understanding of the family members' response to the familial separation and inform the clinician's treatment decisions. The concepts of couple state of mind, projective gridlock, transgenerational transmission of trauma, and Nachträglichkeit, or après coup, are proposed as useful in appreciating the family members' individual and familial psychological responses to the trauma of parental separation. Multiple clinician functions necessary in the treatment of this complex family dynamic are explicated. A case example is included. Family state of mind is proposed as a newly named function for the clinician as well as the family members.

Family Dynamics and Elder Financial Exploitation by Family-Member Powers-of-Attorney Agents

Elder family financial exploitation (EFFE) is a growing problem likely to increase due to population aging. Older people, often considered vulnerable, are frequently targeted for financial exploitation. Relatives, identified as the largest group of perpetrators often misuse powers of attorney (POA); nevertheless, relationship complexity and dependencies, and family privacy result in underreporting and infrequent prosecutions. The aim of this research is to understand family risk factors that could be used for prevention and early detection. We hypothesized that family dynamics in EFFE families compared to non-EFFE families having family-member POA agents would be at greater risk when these risk factors were present. Our larger multi-state research team created a survey to collect demographic and situational data and to explore family-member and elder characteristics and specific family dynamics that could later place older relatives at risk for EFFE. Analyses consisted of testing whether poor family functioning, ineffective communication/problem-solving dynamics, resource exchange patterns, conflict before/during resource distribution, and entitlement attitudes were statistically associated with the occurrence of EFFE. Specifically, we tested a series of hierarchical logistic regressions to examine the association of family dynamic variables with EFFE. Results suggest that fairness conflict, exchange expectations, entitlement expectations, and communication patterns were statistically associated with EFFE. Current family communication patterns were not a statistical predictor of EFFE. These results could prompt older persons and relevant healthcare, legal, financial, law enforcement, social service, and counseling professionals to work proactively with families and mid-life and older adults to consider risk factors before making end-of-life decisions.

Conductas machistas y sus efectos en la dinámica familiar de pareja en la Ciudadela Municipal de Portoviejo, Manabí

El machismo como fenómeno social discriminatorio hacia la mujer constituye un problema ampliamente estudiado y vigente en el contexto ecuatoriano actual. En correspondencia con los criterios antes expresados, el objetivo de la presente investigación fue caracterizar las conductas machistas que se manifiestan en la Ciudadela Municipal de Portoviejo y sus efectos en la dinámica familiar de pareja. El estudio se desarrolló con un enfoque metodológico mixto para llevar a cabo una investigación de campo con diseño de investigación no experimental transversal. La muestra quedó conformada por 300 individuos que conformaban 150 parejas conyugales. Los resultados evidenciaron que las principales conductas machistas que se manifiestan en las parejas objeto de estudio y sus efectos en la dinámica familiar fueron: falta de comunicación parental o comunicación caracterizada por reproches, sátiras, insultos y críticas destructivas, generadora de una afectación de las relaciones maritales e intrafamiliares; percepción negativa de la inserción social, política y económica de la mujer sobre la posición jerárquica del hombre en el seno familiar, lo cual conlleva a la disminución de los vínculos afectivos de pareja e intrafamiliares y al maltrato doméstico que limita la capacidad de independencia de la mujer; imposición de la voluntad del hombre en el núcleo familiar e irritabilidad con tendencia a la violencia física, psicológica y sexual contra la mujer cuando no es aceptada dicha imposición; imposición por parte de los hombres de un rol autoritario aceptado por la mujer en el núcleo familiar por temor a dañar la comunicación y el afecto en la relación marital e intrafamiliar. PALABRAS CLAVE: machismo; conductas machistas; violencia de género; dinámica familiar. Machist behaviors and its effects on the family dynamic of a couple in the Municipal Citizen of Portoviejo, Manabí ABSTRACT Machismo as a discriminatory social phenomenon towards women constitutes a widely studied and current problem in the current Ecuadorian context. In correspondence with the criteria previously expressed, the objective of this research was to characterize the sexist behaviors that are manifested in the Municipal Citadel of Portoviejo and its effects on the couple's family dynamics. The study was developed with a mixed methodological approach to carry out field research with a non-experimental cross-sectional research design. The sample was made up of 300 individuals who made up conjugal couples. The results showed that the main sexist behaviors that are manifested in the couples under study and their effects on family dynamics were: lack of parental communication or communication characterized by reproaches, satires, insults and destructive criticism, generating an affectation of relationships intrafamily; Negative perception of the social, political and economic insertion of women on the hierarchical position of men in the family, which leads to a decrease in marital and intra-family emotional ties and domestic abuse that limits the independence capacity of women ; imposition of the man's will in the family nucleus and irritability with a tendency to physical, psychological and sexual violence against women when said imposition is not accepted; imposition by men of an authoritarian role accepted by women in the family nucleus for fear of damaging communication and affection in the marital and intra-family relationship. KEYWORDS: sexism; macho behaviors; gender violence; family dynamics.

Unspoken: Child–Perpetrator Dynamic in the Context of Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse

The literature on child sexual abuse (CSA) has contributed greatly to the understanding of child–perpetrator dynamic while mainly addressing the concepts of grooming and manipulation. Considerably less attention has been dedicated, however, to child–perpetrator dynamic in intrafamilial child sexual abuse (IFCSA). The current study examined how children perceive and experience the dynamic with their perpetrator parents in the context of IFCSA, as conveyed by victims. Analysis of 29 forensic interviews with children aged 8 to 14 years suggested above all, across all identified themes, the unspoken nature of IFCSA. Specifically, the children shared their surprise at the abusive incidents despite having described a long and unspoken grooming process. The children shared their understanding of the secretive nature of IFCSA although that too was unspoken, while illustrating the fear and terror in the family dynamic. Finally, the children discussed the elusiveness of the dynamic in terms of the natural and unnatural aspects of the relationship. The discussion addresses the unique nature of IFCSA and the family dynamic. The main implication for practice is the urgent need to modify existing instruction and training programs for practitioners to better adjust them to IFCSA survivors. More specifically, the elusive nature of IFCSA must be conveyed to both clinical and forensic practitioners who need to evaluate and intervene in with child survivors of IFCSA. In addition, the fear and terror that characterize the family dynamic and the unspoken, unbridled rule of the perpetrator fathers are of central importance in adapting interventions to children and their families in the context of IFCSA.