What Makes a Family Truly Dsyfunctional?

Question

I know all families have problems, but what catergories a family as truly dsyfunctional?

When is being dsyfunctional different from being trashy? Can you be dsyfunctional, but still be good people?

Thoughts?

Answer 1

your crazy aunt steve

Answer 2

I think dysfunctional is when the actions of one or more family member infringes and complicates and destroys the peace of the rest of the family...that may be a personal dysfunction though. When more than one member is behaving in inappropriate ways and it is fed off by other memebers and it just goes on and on then it is a dysfunctional family. When a family chooses to continue on this route it it hard for evryone and change doesn't usually happen. It takes one or more family member to say NO MORE and seperate themselves from it. If you are a child, you can't always do that unless you have support from famiy or friends or even school counselors if it gets that bad, to guide you out of it. If you are grown and able to live independently then that may be a choice you need to make. We treach people how to treat us and if we allow bad behavior to keep affecting out lives, we are enabeling that person or group of persons to control us. It is hard. I have a very dysfunctional family that I was born into and I have just this last month broken ties with my best friend, sister because she is an alcoholic and has crossed the line too many times. I am 54 yrs. old. I can't do it anymore. I drew the line. I will talk to her when she isnot drinking and not when she is. It is that simple now. I can say it and I can do it. I am no longer going to listen to her negativity about everyone and be brought down by it. It was affecting my health. My husband and my family, grown daughters are pretty well as normal as I espect us to be considering we came from two dysfunctional familys. You are righ we all have problems but when people create problems out of nothing and thrive on drama, it is not good for you to stay around and consume or partake of it. I wish you luck no mwtter what you have to do or go through. I pray for you to make good choices for yourself, you ae the only one who can, right?

Answer 3

A Dysfunctional family might include:
1. Child or spousal abuse
2. Unfairness
3. Really unfairness
4. C'mon, that's so unfair! So-and-so started it!
5. Neglect
6. Lack of communication
7. Deadly pranks (rattlesnakes in the bed).
8. Boogers on the wall
9. Proclamations that laundry not done for like the 10th time.
10. What are you talking about, you never do laundry!

Answer 4

I think what makes a family dysfunctional is the way they communicate with eachother, and react to eachother. I do think that dysfunctional is different from trashy - trashy would be if a dad fathered his own grandson . . .
And I think that you can still be a good person, but have a dysfunctional family. My dad is a good person and treats people outside of the family really great, he donates a lot of money and volunteers. But he doesn't know how to communicate with his family and thus we have a dysfunctional family.

Answer 5

Dysfunction, like everything else in the world, is subjective. While you consider one family dysfunctional and the other to be normal, I could consider the "normal" family to be the dysfunctional one and the "dysfunctional" family to be perfectly regular. *shrugs* But I guess we could always go with society's (somewhat unclear) definition of what a dysfunctional family is, and that would probably be along the lines of... what you see on shows like Wife Swap. Throw in some drugs and alcohol, and there ya go.

Then again, I don't care for society's judgments, ergo I have my own definition of dysfunctional, and I judge based on an individual basis, not by a bunch of general guidelines.

Answer 6

I work with many dysfunctional families and yes you can be dysfunctional and be good people. What makes a family Dysfunctional is debatable I think of it as can this family succeeded own their own without major problems? Such as not going to jail not abusing each other etc

What makes a family Dysfunctional lots of reasons but usually more than one
Drug use
Mental health issues
trauma
low I.Q
poverty (big factor if we like to admit it or not, But is a chicken and egg thing)
Emotional problems

Answer 7

You know if anyone could tell you what a dysfunctional family is in a descriptive manner, I think I might have some insight. I was 30 years old, I needed some financial assistance as did my mother. At the time, my then husband (using the term loosely) and our children were living with my mother to compensate our pocketbooks. After 9 months, My mother allowed him to change the locks on her doors and three days later they both kicked me out throwing my stuff on the lawn, made me lose my job and kept my children from me for over 4 months. Now after the trying times of a divorce, My mother and ex-husband are now sharing the same domicile with my children.
No drugs, no abuse, nothing more than me choosing a different man to be with after a three year time period of working things out/not working things out, separation/living together. It was my choice to accept another man over the ex, not a man over my children. But that was what the deal was...they didn't like my choice and basically blood is no longer thicker than water. To be blunt, I no longer have a working relationship with my mother to whom I refer to by using her first name and the ex has pretty much denied me my place in the family by making my family his own. He hangs out with my brother and goes out to diner and shopping with my mother-to whom prior to this event they both couldn't stand to be in the same room with each other. So if dysfunctional is what you ask for...I could not only write a book but also a manuscript for a movie. Dysfunctional is completely the name of the game in this woman's life!

Answer 8

Sometimes when family members are under stress...or when they are just in a bad mood a lot. The family can be made up of good, honest, hard working people - but they need to get along the majority of the time to be fully functional.

Answer 9

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.
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A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehaviour and even abuse on the part of individual members of the family occur continually, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is normal.

Dysfunctional family members have common symptoms and behavior patterns as a result of their common experiences within the family structure. This tends to reinforce the dysfunctional behavior, either through enabling or perpetuation. The family unit can be affected by a variety of factors.

There are common prototypes for dysfunction. Family heads under-function, providing few boundaries and little guidance. Their children are left to fend for themselves. Others are inconsistent or violate basic boundaries of appropriate behavior. Family members may then have profound difficulties both with their own conduct, and their ability to deal with others.

Frequently, the dysfunctional family stems from alcoholism. The problems created tend to be chronic, and are passed down generation to generation. Even if abuse of alcohol ends, the family system created may continue in the children of the children. The effects are on what is often called the inner child (by educators such as John Bradshaw).

Children growing up in a dysfunctional family have been known to sometimes adopt one of five basic roles:

"The Good Child" – often the family hero who assumes the parental role.
"The Problem Child" – the family scapegoat, who is blamed for most problems.
"The Caretaker" – the one who takes responsibility for the emotional well-being of the family.
"The Lost Child" – the inconspicuous, quiet one, whose needs are often ignored or hidden.
"The Mastermind" – the opportunist who capitalizes on the other family members' faults in order to get whatever he/she wants.

Answer 10

all i know is that if there is no communication in the family then there is disfunction, probably every family is disfunctional is someway or another, though some are worse than others, but being trashy and dysfunctional are 2 different things

Answer 11

I think a family starts becoming "dysfunctional" when they start spending less family time together and when there's a significant lack of communication between family members. That is why spending time every now and then with your family is healthy for a stable family relationship.