Deck 10: Regulating Distance

Question 1

According to the laws of emotional triangles, the best way to bring about change in an emotional triangle is to try and change the relationship of two other people in a triangle.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Chronic anxiety has little effect in family relationship over all.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

One way to tell if a person is emotionally needy and may have been raised in a highly enmeshed family is that they may lack the ability to self-soothe.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Juan is taking classes at the local community college and in one of his human development classes he completes a genogram. He can use this assignment as a tool to explore generational patterns of fusion and differentiation.

Question 5

Family members can be too connected to the family emotional system, to the degree that it interferes with their ability to manage the other aspects of their lives.

Question 6

Differentiated individuals are more likely to possess the skills to manage challenging life events.

Question 7

Fused individuals are more likely to possess the skills to manage challenging life events.

Question 8

Differentiation is the ability to separate one's self from the family of origin's emotional climate.

Question 9

The level of fusion is inversely related to the level of family differentiation.

Question 10

Chronic family anxiety is characterized by a low tolerance for intimacy and individuality, and higher levels of conflict..

Question 11

Chronic family anxiety is usually a short-term response to a stressful situation.

Question 12

Acute family anxiety is when uneasiness, distress or apprehension endures for long periods of time .

Question 13

Fusion occurs when:

A) The family is locked in a negative generational transmission
B) An emotional triangle is broken
C) The emotional system over-rides the intellectual system in the family
D) The family is confused about rules and norms

Question 14

Which would be an effective way to manage emotional triangles?

A) Work to be fused
B) Use anticipatory socialization
C) Align with the other two corners
D) Try to use competitive feelings in a triangle

Question 15

According to The Fusion Principle, the greater the differentiation:

A) The less the fusion
B) The greater the epigenesis
C) The greater the dysfunction of the family
D) The greater the ability to choose the intellectual system

Question 16

Increasing the flexibility of family boundaries to include children's independence is an emotional process common in which stage of the family life cycle?

A) The family with young children
B) The family with adolescents
C) The family as a launching center
D) The family later in life

Question 17

Differentiation from the family ____________ system is the main process of being differentiated

A) Emotional
B) Intellectual
C) Feeling
D) Rule

Question 18

Who your family is - as a system or entity - is the result of:

A) Crawling out from under a rock
B) A simple, automatic process
C) An ongoing developmental, emotional and historical process
D) Chance and circumstance

Question 19

The task of regulating distance in families includes:

A) Tolerating individuality
B) Management of close relationships
C) Creating a climate of dependence
D) A & B

Question 20

Families who are successful at regulating distance within the system will be:

A) Tolerant of individuality
B) Demanding of conformity
C) Over-connected to their children
D) Focused on compliance

Question 21

The task of establishing a distinct identity, separate from our family emotional climate, is:

A) A primary task of childhood
B) Requires separation from generational alliances
C) Crucial to becoming individuated
D) Separation from emotional triangles

Question 22

Differentiation is analogous to:

A) Withdrawal
B) Removal
C) Separation
D) Release

Question 23

Individuation is analogous to:

A) Removal
B) Disentanglement
C) Independence
D) Eccentricity

Question 24

Remaining connected to one's family in health promoting ways means:

A) Creating one's own choices and decisions
B) Expressing creativity
C) Managing dependence
D) Demanding conformity

Question 25

Poorly differentiated families exhibit:

A) Low tolerance for intimacy
B) High need for control
C) Differences in opinion
D) A climate of independence

Question 26

Poorly differentiated families are more likely to be:

A) Supportive of the uniqueness of family members
B) Closed, with rigid boundaries about the outside world
C) Tolerant of individuality
D) Validating

Question 27

It is normative for infants and young children to be fused with their parental family and this results in:

A) Higher levels of trust and security for the child
B) Children gaining confidence
C) Children responding positively to appreciation
D) All of the above

Question 28

The most malignant combination of factors for a family is:

A) A high degree of closeness coupled with high tension and animosity
B) A high degree of closeness coupled with concern and positive regard
C) A low degree of closeness coupled with high tension and animosity
D) A low degree of closeness coupled with concern and positive regard

Question 29

In family relationships, the inverse of healthy differentiation is a family climate of:

A) Tension, animosity, and bitterness
B) Patience and tolerance
C) Acceptance
D) Concern and positive regard

Question 30

Fusion is an emotional process that refers to

A) How people are able to connect to the family emotional climate
B) How families foster the development of a primary identity of a inner strength
C) The creation of an identity enmeshed with the family of origin
D) Disconnection from family generational processes

Question 31

Fusion results in:

A) More difficulty in problem solving
B) Trouble controlling the emotional part of family systems
C) Emotions over-riding rational thought processes
D) All of the above

Question 32

Differentiation results in teenagers with:

A) Increased problems with family of origin
B) Enhanced relationship skills
C) Alcohol dependency
D) Greater conflict

Question 33

When a highly fused individual is confronted with an emotionally charged situation they are most likely to:

A) Respond calmly
B) Irrationally seek to place blame
C) Dominate the situation
D) B & C

Question 34

Families who suffer from chronic family anxiety are usually characterized by:

A) Low tolerance for individuality, low conflict
B) Low tolerance for individuality, high conflict
C) High tolerance for individuality, high conflict
D) High tolerance for individuality, low conflict

Question 35

When a family encounters anxiety and distress:

A) Fusion facilitates resource management
B) Differentiation enhances family functioning
C) A chronic definition is preferable to an acute definition
D) B & C

Question 36

Chronic family anxiety can result in:

A) An imbalance in family loyalties
B) Fusion of family members
C) Decreased differentiation
D) All of the above

Question 37

Families with high levels of fusion are more likely to:

A) Develop acute family anxiety
B) Be vulnerable to emotional triangles
C) Be emotionally differentiated
D) Develop chronic family anxiety

Question 38

Emotional triangles result when:

A) Two family members focus on a third issue to gain control in a situation
B) Three family members create a healthy generational alliance
C) Family members are highly differentiated
D) Family members are attempting to manage loving feelings

Question 39

A health promoting strategy to manage emotional triangles is:

A) Emotional cut-off
B) Fusion
C) Differentiation
D) Focus on level I behaviors

Question 40

With regard to the family emotional system:

A) Fusion is inversely related to the likelihood emotional triangles will occur in the family
B) Differentiation is inversely related to the likelihood emotional triangles will occur in the family
C) Chronic family anxiety is inversely related to fusion
D) There is no relationship between fusion, differentiation and emotional triangles.

Question 41

To manage emotional triangles:

A) Ignore triangles in the family system
B) Avoid differentiation
C) Avoid long-term resentment and animosity
D) All of the above

Question 42

Tim and Carla have been married for 15 years. Tim likes to fish and spends most weekends on the boat. Carla goes out occasionally but she is increasingly frustrated when he chooses to fish rather than spending time with the family. They have been spending lots of time fighting about fishing. This is an example of:

A) Chronic family anxiety
B) Emotional triangulation
C) Acute family anxiety
D) Generational alliances

Question 43

Which type of family is more likely to produce an individual in which the emotional self overrides the intellectual or thinking part:

A) A highly enmeshed family
B) A family with lower levels of enmeshment
C) A disablement family
D) An Epigenetic family

Question 44

The intrusive parent who uses high structure and has lower amounts of intimacy with his/her children is more likely to have a child who:

A) Uses emotional cut-off as a strategy to deal with family life
B) Uses morphostasis as a strategy to cope with family life.
C) Uses epigenesis as a guiding principle.
D) Has excellent control of his/her emotional self.

Question 45

According to you text, poorly differentiated families:

A) Express a lower tolerance for the uniqueness of the individual family members
B) Express higher tolerance for the uniqueness of family members.
C) Are best at developing a balance of conflict and fusion.
D) Are less likely to create a conflict oriented family climate.

Question 46

When we try to teach families to have more appropriate levels of connection, we would try to have them:

A) Decrease differentiation and increase enmeshment in their families
B) Decrease enmeshment and increase differentiation in their families
C) Decrease thinking elements and increase appropriate emotions in their families
D) Decrease feeling and increase euphoria in their families

Question 47

When involved in an emotional triangle it is best to:

A) Work hard to change the relationship of the other two people in the triangle.
B) Ignore one of the other people in the triangle.
C) Do everything you can to get the other two to like each other.
D) Work to maintain strong relationships with both of the other persons

Question 48

"When I was growing up, my mother would frequently come to me and want to talk about my father. She would really need answers from me about what to do. I felt very burdened by this. Sometimes she would ask me to try and talk with him and find out what was on his mind. When I did this, it felt like I was spying on him because my mother would always pry things out of me that my dad had said." Which of the following is the best title for the above paragraph?

A) My Attempt at Generativity in a Close Relationship
B) The Principle of Triangulation in Action
C) How I Overcame The Effects of Triangulation
D) Coping with a Punctuating Mother

Question 49

Two siblings fight often, and often one of them tries to bring an older brother into the fight by getting the other child to choose their side. This is an example of:

A) Differentiation
B) Epigensis
C) Triangling
D) A flexibility issue

Question 50

Emotional Cutoff refers to:

A) A tendency for a person coming a highly enmeshed family to want to block off interactions from other family members
B) Resistance to intrusive parents when a young adult decides to live nearby.
C) A type of mind game used to decrease epigenesis.
D) A tendency for a person who comes from a highly enmeshed family to cutoff his/her thinking self and surrender to the will of the family.

Question 51

Discuss three ways that an individual can use a genogram to promote healthy family processes.

Question 52

What are three ways that dealing with invisible loyalties can enhance family functioning?

Question 53

Provide three examples of how families can decrease fusion in the family system?

Question 54

What are three (3) implications of fusion in the family system?

Question 55

What is an emotional triangle? What are three (3) ways that a family can manage emotional triangles?

Question 56

What is the difference between acute and chronic family anxiety? Which is more detrimental to family functioning? Why?

Question 57

What is differentiation? What are two ways it facilitates family development?

Question 58

What is fusion? What are two ways it impairs family functioning?

Question 59

What are three characteristics of a family with chronic anxiety?

Question 60

Compare and contrast the characteristics of fused and differentiated family systems.