Family Rituals

Family rituals, consisting of celebrations, traditions, and patterned family interactions, are defined and illustrated in this paper. The power of ritual practice in families is explained by three underlying processes — transformation, communication, and stabilization — concepts whose roots lie in anthropology and ethology. We propose that all families struggle with finding a suitable role for rituals in their collective lives but their actual achievement varies greatly. Commitment to ritual and adaptability of ritual practice throughout the family life cycle are important considerations. The utility of these concepts in the assessment and treatment of families is discussed.     

Family Ritual and Routine: Comparison of Clinical and Non-Clinical Families

Research demonstrates that the constructive use of family rituals is reliably linked to family health and to psychosocial adjustment. This study explores the relationship between family rituals and child well-being. Two samples participated: 21 families whose adolescent was receiving psychiatric treatment and 21 families in which the adolescent was a public school student. A parent and the adolescent were individually interviewed regarding family rituals and completed standardized measures of adolescent and family functioning. Analyses demonstrated that, in addition to significant sample differences in the expected direction on measures of functioning, the non-clinical families scored significantly higher on the index of family rituality than did the treatment families; this is additional evidence that family rituals are a correlate of child well-being. Further analysis of the data pointed to “people resources” as a robust dimension in its association to adolescent functioning. The role family ritual and routine plays in defining family relationships, both within the nuclear family and with other important adults, was significantly related to clinical status. This work may point to an important, yet overlooked, dimension of family ritual life, the relational qualities of rituals and routines.     

家庭仪式与大学生幸福感的关系：社会联结与自我控制的链式中介作用

研究探讨了家庭仪式对大学生幸福感的影响及其机制。基于自我控制理论,研究构建了以社会联结和自我控制为链式中介的家庭仪式影响幸福感的假设模型,并采用修订的家庭仪式问卷、社会联结量表、自我控制量表和幸福感量表对675名大学生进行了问卷调查。结果发现,家庭仪式与社会联结、自我控制、幸福感呈显著正相关,社会联结与自我控制在家庭仪式促进幸福感的关系中发挥链式中介作用。     

Dimensions of family rituals across two generations: relation to adolescent identity.

Family rituals are considered part of a generational process that fosters a sense of identity for individual members and is reflective of the family's shared belief system. The symbolic significance attached to family rituals is considered central to the force of family rituals. Three questions were addressed in the study: (1) Are the dimensions of family rituals viewed similarly across generations?; (2) Is level of ritualization related to adolescent identity?; (3) If there is disagreement about the relative level of ritualization in a family, is there a negative relation to adolescent identity? A total of 77 families with an adolescent member completed the Family Ritual Questionnaire, and the adolescents completed a measure of self-esteem. Results of a factor analysis demonstrated shared representation of family rituals across two generations, with one factor loading on the symbolic qualities of family rituals and the second factor loading on the routine aspects of family rituals. Positive relations were found between adolescent identity and the family's report of symbolic significance and affect associated with family rituals. A negative relation was found between mother-adolescent disagreement about family rituals and adolescent feelings of belonging. Distinguishing between meaning and routine aspects of family rituals is discussed as well as clinical implications.     

Family routines and rituals in the context of chronic conditions: A review

This paper is a systematic review of 39 empirical studies on family routines and rituals in the context of a chronic condition of a family member. The search strategy encompassed a wide spectrum of chronic conditions affecting family members from childhood/adolescence to adulthood. Twenty quantitative, 13 qualitative, 3 mixed‐methods, and 3 intervention studies published between 1995 and 2012 were reviewed. A conceptual framework of routines and rituals as key elements of family health was adopted, resulting in three main findings. First, a chronic condition in a family member impacted the frequency and nature of family's routines and rituals. Second, these whole‐family interactions held important functions for individuals and families, constituting strategic resources in the condition's management and opportunities for emotional support exchanges, and providing the family with a sense of normalcy amid the challenges posed by chronic conditions. Third, family routines and rituals were linked to positive health and adaptation outcomes for both patients and family members. Implications for future research include the need for the distinction between routines and rituals against a conceptual background, use of validated assessment methods, and empirical examination of predictors of changes in routines and rituals throughout the course of the condition and of the mechanisms linking these family events to positive outcomes. Conclusions support the inclusion of routines and rituals in a family‐centered care approach to the understanding and treatment of chronic conditions.     

Relationships between adult attachment representations and family ritual quality: a prospective, longitudinal study

Meaningful family rituals have been associated with positive outcomes for families and children. No studies, however, have investigated predictors of family ritual quality, the identification of which would be important for understanding why some families create and enact meaningful family rituals while others lack rituals or have problematic rituals. We propose that adult attachment security may be an important predictor of family ritual quality because family rituals may provide a sense of stability and cohesiveness for the family. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between adult attachment representations and the quality of family rituals, using a prospective, longitudinal design. Prior to the birth of their first child, 125 couples completed the Adult Attachment Interview, and a subsample of 70 mothers and 62 fathers completed the Family Rituals Questionnaire when their first child was 7 years old. Different patterns of relationships between attachment representations and family rituals were found for mothers and fathers. Maternal Insecure Attachment was associated with higher routinization of family rituals. Being in a couple with mixed attachment classifications (e.g., one Secure partner and one Insecure partner) was related to a pattern of low routinization and low meaning for family rituals. The results of this study are interpreted in terms of two patterns of rituals that have been described by clinicians--rigid ritualization and underritualization, and suggestions for working with these ritual patterns in families with Insecure attachment are provided.     

Family rituals in married couples: Links with attachment,relationship quality,and closeness

This study examined the association between self‐reports of family rituals and relationship attachment, relationship quality, and closeness in 150 married couples in Portugal. Using structural equation modeling to examine both within‐individual and across‐partner effects, the results were generally as predicted. First, lower levels of avoidant attachment were related to greater family investment in rituals. Second, greater family investment in rituals was associated with more positive relationship quality and closeness. Third, family investment in rituals partially mediated the link between avoidance and relationship quality and closeness. Fourth, the mediational models were significant for women but not for men. These results highlight the importance of links among family interactions, couple interactions, and individual differences.     

With Onions and Tears: A Multidimensional Analysis of a Counter-Ritual

“Family rituals” and “family myths” are useful concepts for understanding some of the behavior of disturbed families and hence for planning therapeutic interventions. A case of a family of a schizophrenic patient is described in which a “counter-ritual” involving onion-peeling to induce tearing was invented. The intervention addressed the family's inappropriate laughter and denial of sadness and seemed to lead to therapeutic gains for the identified patient and the family. This counter-ritual, as an indirect affect-inducing experience, is analyzed from a variety of perspectives and a partial parallel is drawn to an Iranian cultural ritual. A suggestion is made that more light may be shed on the mechanisms and structures of myths and rituals in families by drawing on studies of myths and rituals in ethnography. “Counter-ritual” is offered as a general concept for a type of active family intervention that involves inventing and employing rituals antithetical to pathological ones engaged in by some families.     

Attitudes Toward the Continuation of Family Rituals Among Emerging Adults

In this study we examined college students' assessment of the personal meaningfulness of their families' rituals and their desire to initiate family rituals in the future. Participants were 46 male and 49 female never-married, primarily European American undergraduates at a private east coast university. It was found that women were more likely than men to see themselves initiating future family rituals. The amount of ritual initiation undertaken by participants' same-sex parents and participants' communality were significant predictors of reported likelihood of future ritual initiation. A “caring” parenting style was the only significant predictor of the meaningfulness of rituals. The relationships of respondents' religious and ethnic background and their parents' marital status to their attitudes toward rituals were also examined.     

Fit inside the work‐family black box: An ecology of the life course,cycles of control reframing

Scholars have not fully theorized the multifaceted, interdependent dimensions within the work‐family ‘black box’. Taking an ecology of the life course approach, we theorize common work‐family and adequacy constructs as capturing different components of employees' cognitive appraisals of fit between their demands and resources at the interface between home and work. Employees' appraisals of their work‐family linkages and of their relative resource adequacy are not made independently but, rather, co‐occur as identifiable constellations of fit. The life course approach hypothesizes that shifts in objective demands/resources at work and at home over the life course result in employees experiencing cycles of control, that is, corresponding shifts in their cognitive assessments of fit. We further theorize patterned appraisals of fit are key mediators between objective work‐family conditions and employees' health, well‐being and strategic adaptations. As a case example, we examine whether employees' assessments on 10 dimensions cluster together as patterned fit constellations, using data from a middle‐class sample of 753 employees working at Best Buy's corporate headquarters. We find no single linear construct of fit that captures the complexity within the work‐family black box. Instead, respondents experience six distinctive constellations of fit: one optimal; two poor; and three moderate fit constellations.     

Rituals in the Time of COVID-19: Imagination,Responsiveness, and the Human Spirit

Following the format put forth by Imber-Black and Roberts, I examine daily rituals, family traditions, holidays, and life cycle rituals during the pandemic of COVID-19. Marked by symbols capable of carrying multiple meanings, symbolic actions, special time and special place, and newly invented and adapted rituals are illustrated through stories of couples, families, and communities.     

Sacred plants and visionary consciousness

Botanical preparations used by shamans in rituals for divination, prophecy, and ecstasy contain widely different psychoactive compounds, which are incorrectly classified under a single denomination such as “hallucinogens,” “psychedelics,” or “entheogens.” Based on extensive ethnopharmacological search, I proposed a psychopharmacological classification of magic plants in 1979. This paper re-evaluates this taxonomy in the context of consciousness research. Several groups of psychodysleptic magic plants are proposed: (1) hallucinogens—psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline cacti, dimethyltryptamine snuffs, and the synthetic ergoline lysergic acid diethylamide induce strong perceptual changes, affective intensification, and cognitive enhancement. Their ethnobotanical uses include long lasting divination rituals, prophecy, and sacramental practice. (2) Trance-inducers—ergoline Convolvulaceae and South American Banisteriopsis produce quietness, abstraction, lethargy, mild sensorial and cognitive changes, and salient visual imagery changes used in trance rituals and specific divination practices. (3) Cognodysleptics—marijuana (tetrahydrocannabinol) and other terpene-containing plants induce changes in thought, imagination, and affective functions and are used in short-term divination or oneiromancy. (4) Deliriants—tropane-containing Solanaceae, wild tobacco, and Amanita muscaria (muscimol) induce a delirium characterized by dim and clouded consciousness, stupor, confusion, disorientation, perception distortion, difficulties in recollection, anxiety, irritability, excitation, and behavioral disorganization employed in sorcery, purification, or exorcism rituals. The core mental effects required for a drug to be used in shamanistic rituals include light-headedness, enhanced imagery, and experience intensification. This constellation was the reason why, in his classification of psychoactive compounds, the pioneer German psychopharmacologist Louis Lewin established in 1924 a group of drugs under the appropriate name of Phantastica.     

Making the Myth–Ritualist Theory Scientific

The Divyatattva, a Hindu treatise on ordeals, uses folk etymologies and other rhetorical devices to structure its rituals. This paper suggests that such forms of repetition, and particularly ‘exhaustion,’ or the enumeration of an entire paradigm class, may naturalise or, in Saussure's term, ‘relatively motivate’ rituals and diminish the appearance of their arbitrariness. Ordeals and other rituals may respond to situations of uncertainty by using rhetorical devices to promote confidence in their outcomes. This contribution of poetic form to the pragmatic function of ritual is neglected in J. L. Austin's influential theory of ‘performative utterances.’     

Out of the Analytic Shadow: On the Dynamics of Commemorative Ritual

This paper explores the dynamics of commemorative ritual as it is embodied and enacted outside the consulting room. While the function of lifelong acts of memorial in marking traumatic loss has been well documented, psychoanalysis has given short shrift to the value of these ongoing commemorative rituals in instances of “ordinary” (i.e., less traumatic) loss. Historical and sociological writers have explored their functions, but commemorative rituals have tended to evoke resistance within psychoanalysis, perhaps because of their collision with the termination ideal and the value of relinquishment. Here, I build on previous essays concerning Jewish mourning ritual (shiva) by addressing the function of several acts of commemoration including that of Yizkor (Jewish memorial ritual). Enacted across the lifespan, commemorative rituals serve multiple functions. They allow us to mark absence and create “presence” as we access and sometimes reshape personal memory. Such rituals can create a sense of linkage to “like mourners.” At their best, these acts—in their multiple incarnations—mimic aspects of psychoanalytic work by helping us deepen emotional connectedness and facilitating integrated remembering in a way that enriches and frees rather than binds us.     

Family therapy after a death in the traditional Jewish family

A family therapist working with a religious family should be aware of its religious dynamics which, as part of the family's overriding belief system, influence coping mechanisms. We discuss here some of the dynamics within a traditional Jewish family following a death, including traditional and specially constructed therapeutic rituals.     

Naming the Unnameable

An analogy is drawn between the naming of preverbal mental constellations and the intrusion on aboriginal fixed beliefs and rituals. In order to interpret the unnamed complexes, we must venture past many personal taboos and time our interventions, taking care to secure a workable alliance. A review of current practices in psychoanalysis shows many breaches in the older requirement of neutrality in the name of empathy, alliance, and intersubjectivity. Nonetheless the verbalization of unconscious patterned behaviors must be rendered in words and mentalized, if patients are to proceed in life with fewer restraints.

Naming the unconscious fantasies designates the patient's psychic reality. The factual basis of psychic reality as memories of the past remains uncertain.     

Sufi practices as the cause of spiritual,mental and physical healing at Chishti shrines in Pakistan

The article’s main focus is the performance of Sufi rituals at the Sufi Dargahs (shrines) and the objectives behind that recital. The study tries to locate the reasons behind the visitation of Sufi Dargahs. It is an attempt to find out the reasons devotees visit Sufi Dargahs and conduct Sufi practices and explores the ways the rituals become a source of peace for them. To get the actual findings, anthropological research was conducted and most of the data were collected while visiting the two prominent Chishti Sufi Dargahs of West Punjab, Pakistan: Dargahs of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar and Khawaja Shams ud Din Sialvi. The study is an effort to find out how the culture of Dargah influences the local community actions.     

Ranks Are Not Bypassed,Rituals Are Not Negated: The Dionysian Corpus on Return

Modern readings of the Dionysian corpus often subordinate its hierarchical treatises to its theological treatises. Two unfortunate consequences follow: one, the thetic positions and aphairetic removals of the Divine Names and Mystical Theology bypass or transcend the hierarchical ranks and hierurgical rituals of the Celestial Hierarchy and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Second, the return to God occurs through apophatic abstraction rather than sacramental performance. This article interprets the Dionysian corpus differently, offering four arguments why Dionysian negative theology is not the means by which ranks and rituals are negated or abandoned but rather a means by which they are affirmed and accomplished.     

Annotation: culture and family therapy

This annotation considers the importance of understanding culture for the theory and practice of family therapy. A number of theoretical approaches are described. Some are concerned with ubiquitous and universal family processes like the family life cycle, while others are concerned with the particularity of family life such as the content of myths and rituals. Some practical implications for the participants of the therapy, and the choice of therapeutic approach is discussed.