Hi everyone! For fourth blog post, I will be researching my second subquestion of my inquiry question. It will be about discovering how one’s mental health and overall well being is affected by familial relationships. It’s important to my inquiry that I gather information on the connection between mental health and familial relationships. As we may all know, family is a huge factor in our lives. The relationships we have with other members of our family can affect our mood, our behaviour, and the way we develop our own relationships in the future.
From a positive point of view, family relationships provide a support system, can help us cope with stress, be a safe corner, and enhance self esteem. Healthy family relationships also impact an individual’s development in life in aspects of their emotional, physical, and mental health. It is evident that the quality of family relationships is crucial in good mental health. While it can be difficult to have close relationships with the entire family, even one relationship with a family member can increase emotional and mental stability.
As family dynamics have become more complicated, it can often lead to complex martial histories, display varying relationships between family members. It is true that family can be a stressor and it can decline one’s mental health if family becomes an unsafe place for them. Since many people correlate home with family, it can be difficult to feel at ease when home does not feel stable. This means that there may be trauma in the household or burdening relationships with a family member. Feeling comfortable at home means to be feel comfortable with your family. If that becomes altered, it negatively impacts one’s well being and they may feel tense or trapped when around their family members.
In toxic families, behaviours are almost always destructive and harmful, which can significantly affect family members’ mental health. It is more than the occasional conflict. Unhealthy behaviour patterns are often unrelenting and become the norm within the family, so much so that affected family members may not recognize the harmful behaviours.
Furthermore, in the long term, family relationships play an important role in how individuals create relationships in the future. This involves relationships in the work place, in social settings, making new friends, romantic relationships, etc. A lot of people’s early childhood and adolescence is heavily revolved around their family. Therefore, any negative or positive childhood traumas stay with in a person their whole lives and they are associated with mental problems later in life.
In the final findings of my research under this subquestion, I have seen that family is an individual’s first place of belonging. Family dynamics are unique and come in different shapes, with different needs and circumstances; but, the main priority is that the relationships within promote wellbeing, provide support, and can lead on to build strong and positive lifestyles. Both adverse and uplifting family relationships play a significant role in the development of one’s mental health.
Thanks for reading!
Citations:
Thomas, P. A., Liu, H., & Umberson, D. (2017). Family Relationships and Well-Being. Innovation in Aging, 1(3), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igx025
The Impact of Positive Relationships on Mental Health and Well-being | Child Focus. (2023, October 16). Www.child-Focus.org. https://www.child-focus.org/news/the-impact-of-positive-relationships-on-mental-health-and-well-being/
Healthy Families – Be You. (n.d.). Beyou.edu.au. https://beyou.edu.au/fact-sheets/relationships/healthy-families#:~:text=Families%20directly%20affect%20development%20and%20long%2Dterm%20wellbeing&text=Healthy%20family%20relationships%20help%20children
Understanding Family Dynamics. (n.d.). Homewood Health. https://homewoodhealth.com/corporate/blog/understanding-family-dynamics
