The KARAS Family Case Scenario

Erica Karas is a 42-year-old Caucasian woman who is a non-practicing Christian. Chris Moore is a 43-year-old Caucasian male who is a practicing conservative Christian. Erica and Chris married 16 years ago (the first marriage for both of them), and had two children, Leigh (now 15 years old) and Marc (now 10 years old). While there was some conflict in their marriage in the early years around religious beliefs and child-rearing, this conflict became less pronounced. As the children grew older, Chris largely left parenting Leigh to Erica, and Erica largely left parenting Marc to Chris. For most of the marriage, Chris worked as a Food Service Director for a catering company with several large contracts, and so worked 50+ hours per week. Erica worked part-time as a photographer for an advertising firm as the children were growing up. Over the years, both report, they simply grew apart. Erica told Chris she wanted a divorce about 16 months ago. Chris insisted they seek couples therapy, and Erica reluctantly agreed. During three months of therapy, Erica discussed her long-standing unhappiness in the marriage (which had been largely unvoiced until that time) and decided she wanted to end the marriage. She filed for divorce just over a year ago, and the divorce was finalized 10 months ago. Chris is still very upset about the divorce as it contradicts his religious views of marriage and family. Since the divorce, Erica and Chris have had some chronic conflicts over timely child support payments from Chris (the downturn of the economy has resulted in his company losing some contracts, so he is only working 30 hours a week), but have settled into a binuclear family arrangement. They argue only occasionally, usually over the other's decision to parent in some particular way and these arguments tend to be bitter; the children usually are quite aware of the nature and timing of these fights, even when they do not happen in front of Leigh or Marc. Leigh and Marc live with Chris at his apartment on alternate weekends, and Marc spends one or two nights a week at Chris' apartment during the school week. Recently they have started going to weeknight Bible classes, as well as father-and-son activities at Chris' church on Sundays. Leigh has chosen not to spend a weeknight with her father because she is becoming more involved in her high school journalism club, which meets after school. Since Chris lives about 40 minutes from the school, the commute is inconvenient. However, Chris has come to several public speaking and other kinds of events the journalism club has hosted, and sometimes has late lunch with her on Sundays after returning Marc to Erica's home. As a result, Chris sees Leigh generally once a week aside from their weekends together. Three months ago, Erica married Brian Levin, a 38-year-old Jewish man. This is his first marriage. Brian got along well with the children during the 6 months he and Erica dated, but after the marriage, things seemed to have changed. He now seems to be in fights every few days with Leigh, and he and Marc seem more distant. Brian says that before marrying Erica, he never really thought about his "role" in the family, as they all got along well without much effort or planning (Erica agrees). However, after marrying Erica, he is more unsure of what he should and should not do or say, as he can't predict what will "set off another sur-Leigh episode" in which Leigh becomes sarcastic and disrespectful toward Brian. Brian feels Erica takes Leigh's side in these conflicts, regardless of what the conflict is about. While he admits sometimes he doesn't understand how things have been done in the past, and may later agree with Erica, he feels Erica simply dismisses whatever he has to say about parenting Leigh from the outset. Brian has tried to talk to Erica about the changes in the family, but Erica is growing frustrated with Brian's need to "process everything". Erica feels Brian just doesn't understand Leigh, who has (and in Erica's opinion should have) more freedom and independence than Brian thinks is appropriate for an adolescent her age. Further, Erica notes, Brian doesn't realize that Leigh feels uncomfortable at her age having a grown man in the house. Erica believes the conflict will cease in time as they get to know each other better, and as Leigh grows older, though she acknowledges their arguments are becoming stressful for the entire family. Brian feels Marc simply doesn't want to interact with him anymore, and has come to believe Chris may be supporting this; Marc recently said "You're not really my Dad so don't expect me to be like your son" and "Your people killed Jesus". Brian also believes the church activities Chris has been attending with Marc fuel this latter statement. He feels that he is "not so much a practicing Jew" as he does not attend the temple regularly and has never pressured Erica to alter her religious beliefs or practices for him. However, he says he is "still Jewish" and he now feels Erica dismisses his concerns and discomfort with Chris. This has become more of an issue recently, as Erica and Brian have had only a few conversations about how religious holidays will be observed in the home this winter, and none of them have really resolved anything. Erica doesn't want to make any decisions now, and just wants to "wait and see what feels natural". Marc is having problems in school, and though his grades in the past have been a B average they have dropped to some C's and D's. Marc's teacher thinks Marc may have a Learning Disability. This concern is the primary reason the family is now seeking psychological services, though they seem to vacillate regarding how open they are to examine family distress as a possible cause for Marc's school difficulties. - Erica thinks Marc might have a learning disability, adding that she suspects Chris also may have one - Brian thinks Marc may just be very stressed with the continuing changes in his family over the last year - Chris thinks that Marc is uncomfortable with his mother's remarriage and with Brian (a Jewish man) in the home. Chris commented once in an argument with Erica, about three months before her wedding, that perhaps Marc would be better off living with Chris full-time, and Marc asked his mother about this possibility over the last few months, especially as the arguments between Leigh and Brian grow more frequent. Erica is very concerned that Chris will press for custody of Marc, which would likely result in another battle in court. Further, Chris' lawyer would likely move to end all child support, since Chris would have one child and Erica the other. Erica believes Chris is motivated to do this less because of any reasonable concern for Mar's happiness, and more because he is upset Erica has remarried (thus ending any chance of reunification with Chris) and has remarried a Jewish man at that.

Describe the family, the members, the overall functioning of the system, and the identified patient (as identified by the family).

Apply all concepts of Structural theory, Family structure & Subsystems, Hierarchy

Boundaries, Rules and roles, Distribution of Power, Key Triangles, and Communication patterns

Apply all concepts of the Experiential Family theory application, consider concepts of individuality, individuation, and self-expression.

Apply all relevant variables to the case study race, gender, ethnicity, and spirituality plus all relevant Special Topic Issues

Self-Reflection, provide a self-reflection regarding how you would feel if you were to provide family therapy to this family.

Describe possible transference issues and barriers.

Also, describe personal strengths that could assist, when working with this family.

Describe any barriers within the family that might prevent them from benefiting from family therapy. Please Cite with references.