War Trauma and the Family System - “Contagion” Processes vs Homeostatic Processes

Abstract

The aim of the article is to confront the knowledge about the specificity of the functioning of the family system in the situation of exposure of its members to traumatic phenomena, which are undoubtedly the hostilities in Ukraine. The wave of war refugees, that we have been encountering in our country for two years, requires developing ways of helping to contain traumatic experiences, rebuilding a sense of security and restoring homeostatic mechanisms natural to the family system. Knowledge of the mechanisms that govern, regulate and order the family system can be helpful in developing a methodical approach. What can potentially hinder this type of work is, on the one hand, the accumulation of a large number of traumatic stimuli (m.in. war, refugeeism, cultural and linguistic differences, different levels of social and personal capital), and on the other hand, the fact that methods of working with post-traumatic disorders are used to work with this type of families, in a situation where trauma is an ongoing experience.