ABSTRACT
The above exercise is intended to highlight the way in which family members’ interpretations develop and also to underscore the importance of ‘subjective perceptions’ whereby the same event can be interpreted in a variety of different ways depending on one’s beliefs, expectations and past experiences. Theorists who work with the cognitive model of therapy posit that it is not situations in and of themselves that are stressful but rather our perceptions of each particular experience. In a similar vein, family perceptions of right and wrong or good and bad may not necessarily conform to views of an individual family member or indeed society as a whole. It is for this reason that examining perceptions of family and self are vital in our process of growth and professional development.
