The Family Under Stress

Family Crisis is a scary but real thing. A family crisis is defined as “a family crisis is a situation that marks a turning point in a Family, when things cease to go on as usual in the family as a result of some certain situations or changes going on in the family” (passnownow.com). When you think about it the main cause of family crisis is stress. What is stress? Stress is mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.

                So many people stress and over stress and worry about things they cannot control. I am here to tell you stress is not always a bad thing. Especially pertaining to the family. A family under stress pulls together to work everything out. They evaluate why their lives are in such turmoil and work together to find a solution that works for them. For example, my brother is autistic. Not only is he autistic, but he was diagnosed as bipolar schizophrenia earlier this year. My brother has always struggled in school, socially, emotionally, and pretty much any way a teenager can struggle. My brother has been there done that. He has gone through suicidal moments and moments of doubt and fear. This has caused all kinds of stress on my family. Financial stress would be the first stressor because he has been in and out of behavioral health hospitals. Each visit is pricey and most years we meet our insurance deductible. His diagnosis’s have cause emotional stress as well. There have been nights we sit and cry together as my brother cries and asks each one of us why Heavenly Father made him that way. “Why did Heavenly Father do this to me? I thought he loved me.” Hearing this from your baby brother is one of the most heart wrenching things to hear. You know our Heavenly Father loves him and you know it is all a part of his eternal plan, but wow. That hurts. We have had experiences like this one time and time again. Our family has faced these trials and they have brought enormous amounts of stress into our lives, but we work together and find a way to see the positive in every bad situation. We lean on each other and love each other and in the end the stress really makes us stronger.

                These situations happen more often than you could even imagine. Unfortunately, they happen nearly every day to every family. The only way to survive the stress is to lean on one another. Support your family and you can find a way to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

                In my family relations class, we talked about a husband and wife who lost their 6-month-old baby. As you can imagine, this loss would cause tremendous stress on a family unit. The mother and father began to blame themselves. They blamed each other, and they mourned the loss of their baby. Luckily the mother found an outlet and started to talk with a family counselor. She soon realized these thoughts of hopeless caused by the loss of their child were all in her head. They were caused by the stress and had given her a reason to doubt her marriage. She realized she should be turning to her husband and grieving along side him. After all, he lost a baby too. She realized that talking through her feelings helped her to understand what she really needed. She needed to turn to her husband and strengthen her marriage to survive this great tragedy.

                As families struggle and hit a family crisis, they must do all they can to cope with the stressors in their lives in a healthy way. If you need help, get it. The important thing in any stressful situation is to have people you can rely on and trust. Talk about it and never sweep it under the rug, pretending it didn’t happen. Turn to your loved ones and help them through the trials you are facing because they need you as much as you need them.