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We usually assume that the child, through the process of incorporation internalizes various components of the parents' personalities. We further assume that this process occurs in a slow, gradual, automatic and random manner and is closely related to the developmental phase of the child. It is presumed to take place without active or conscious intervention either by the subject or the object to the deed. In this paper attention will be given to another set of circumstances when the process occurs in a more precipitous manner and as a result of some disturbance in the family homeostatic system.
A brief review of certain family therapy concepts is necessary before discussing and illustrating what the author has described as “forced incorporation.” Family therapists believe that the family is a structured system with an ongoing homeostatic balance of its own. A variety of factors may go into this system resulting in the maintenance of a relative state of balance. Some of these factors include interactional patterns that are established quite early in the marriage. Some such patterns are relatively healthy and result in a family climate conducive to the well being and emotional growth of all. Others of these patterns may be quite stable but have a destructive impact on one or more of the family members (Sado-machochistic marital relationship, scapegoating of a child, etc.).
The family homeostasis is likely to be altered by events that are milestones in the usual evolution of most families. The birth of a