We possess a totally intrinsic and highly complex human nature. This nature develops, is sustained, and is deeply influenced by the family bond. Primarily, the family is our very first agent of social relationship. There, we begin to express deep emotions and personal desires freely. Therefore, the home context has a very important clinical impact. It directly affects our social and emotional development from early childhood. Later, this profound mark continues to shape our youth in a totally decisive way. Finally, it drastically influences our own stage as adult parents and caregivers.
Furthermore, the home dynamic powerfully influences daily expression. It also determines our real capacity for constant emotional regulation. Basically, we learn to express ourselves through careful observation of the environment. We absorb specific parenting practices and behaviors on a daily basis. Consequently, these attitudes strictly relate to the direct family bond. The emotional climate clearly reflects the quality of affective attachment. It also reveals parenting styles and the general expressiveness of the home. Thus, parental emotionality interacts directly to shape juvenile development.
From a healthy family climate, we learn to manage our internal emotions. Sometimes, we learn to identify them in a truly healthy way. Other times, we simply fail due to the lack of a good adult model. If the emotional climate is stable, we grow up gaining great psychological benefits:
- Constant security and protection from the outside world.
- A strong and healthy sense of belonging.
- Solid personal and emotional self-esteem.
- A genuine appreciation for the surrounding nature.
- High vital motivation to achieve important goals.
- Absolute freedom to express hidden potentials and talents.
- Valuation of relationships based strictly on mutual respect.
Emotional regulation through family
On the contrary, when the family bond is insensitive, everything changes drastically. Internal and external processes deregulate very quickly. Consequently, the individual loses the ability to modulate their affective intensity. This seriously compromises their daily responsiveness to other people. They can no longer face social demands in a truly appropriate manner. They lose all their mental flexibility and necessary adaptive capacity. Therefore, in creative therapy, we focus deeply on clinical modeling. This therapeutic mechanism helps express emotions in a very adaptive and creative way.
Let’s take the clinical case of Edward, mentioned in previous articles. He reacted with a lot of anger and fear to any external support. However, the therapist used several effective music therapy techniques. Specifically, he applied clinical empathy and rhythmic musical structuring. Thus, he managed to model and produce a very positive emotional contagion. This helped Edward enormously to regulate his strong crying and discomfort. Thanks to this modeling and the safe therapeutic family bond, he improved. His heartbreaking cry beautifully turned into an interactive and communicative song.
Intrinsically, we grow up learning that certain situations provoke very specific emotions. We carefully observe the environment’s reactions to know exactly how we should react. Often, direct interactions between parents and children are highly significant. Unfortunately, many parents frequently show high levels of uncontrollable anger. Particularly, they explode violently in frustrating situations with their own children. Consequently, these youths learn ineffective responses for daily emotional regulation. On the contrary, parents must express genuine emotions totally without poses. Thus, children easily understand the real context of each human feeling.
Clinical consequences of a harmful family bond
Rebeca has grown up immersed in a highly harmful parental emotionality. She suffered the constant disloyalty and infidelity of her own father. In addition, she endured the enormous resentment and rigid authoritarianism of her mother. Unfortunately, the mother projected all this onto Rebeca as a catharsis mechanism. Being the youngest daughter, she received all the negative burden of the home. This extremely high level of tension completely destroyed her healthy family bond. Consequently, this hostile environment induced severe negative emotions in her mind. Currently, the young woman experiences worrying and severe suicidal ideation.
Rebeca clinically expresses that she lives this harmful contagion since early childhood. She vividly remembers the constant gestures of great maternal frustration. She also clearly remembers the daily annoyance and the strident tone of voice. To survive emotionally, Rebeca began to keep a personal therapeutic journal. There, she captures the negative emotions that overwhelm her on a daily basis. Coincidentally, she compensates for this deep pain with feelings of school superiority. At school, she cruelly mocks other students close to her. Thus, she generates exactly the same violent conflict she lives at home.
To heal her internal family bond, we started specialized creative work. Our therapeutic link has strictly focused on her great artistic talents. We actively foster her ability to write, paint, and analyze rock songs. Progressively, this clinical approach has generated very positive changes in her behavior. Rebeca has stopped focusing exclusively on the daily external conflict. Now, she focuses on emotions of placidity and constant inner peace. Especially, she has successfully recovered spontaneous laughter and personal self-esteem. Definitely, art creatively transforms the deepest wounds of the broken home.
