| Summary: | Understanding of social and family dynamics, taking into account viewpoints
of sociology of family, social demography, social psychology and social
psychiatry, can provide a better insight into various family, couple and
parent-child relationships. Close observation should be focused on the
family’s life cycle, its type and patterns of group functioning. One should
always take into consideration that when entering into a marriage each
partner brings patterns from his/her family of origin, individual
feelings/emotions, expectations and needs. Every change within a family is
significant, especially the one that marks a passage from one into another,
that is a different phase of a life cycle. Such one is definitely a birth of
the first child. This exactly is the point that causes high level of stress
within a couple. Childbirth usually brings challenges to family organization,
which is often reflected onto the couple. The possible conflicts are usually
related to issues of responsibility and the difficulties of adaptation to a
parental role. Research experience shows that couples’ crisis is common with
younger as well as with older partners. In this study we will present two
case studies, where we deployed a qualitative method. The stories describe
two couples above 35 years old, in their first marriage, both with tertiary
education and one child. These families are at the stage of the life cycle
often cited as ‘family with a small child’ (Duvall, Hill, 1984, Duvall, 1971
according to: Mićović). Both couples that joined therapy were experiencing
conflicts related to a division of tasks and responsibilities as well as to
an acceptance of a father’s role. We will demonstrate the therapeutic
process, techniques that were employed in working with partners in crisis as
well as the outcomes of a treatment.
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