relationships

For all human beings it is important to feel connected in safe and loving relationships with others. The most natural relationships occur within the family with parents, and later in life, with a spouse or partner. In these relationships we feel the unconditional care the other has for us, and there is a freedom to express our own loving and caring qualities.

There may however be circumstances by which it isn’t possible to live in a personal relationships like this and which make it necessary to live in a place where professional caregivers are the important others responsible for your daily well being.

relationships are under pressure when people – as a result of an ailment, psychological stress and/or life experiences – act out emotionally by expressing behaviors that are seen as ‘negative’. The rejecting and often repressing response that these behaviors elicit from others may lead to situations where the person feels more and more insecure or even unsafe in the presence of others and withdraws from the contact. For caregivers, this makes it more difficult to help that person in a loving and non-domineering way. Then, the vicious cycle of drifting apart, fear and repression develops its own dynamic.
We not only see this happening in professional care, but also in families where parents with children with challenging behaviors find it difficult to keep up the loving attitude they by nature have for their children.