A. Differentiation of Self – Is the ability of a person to separate how they feel from the actual facts of a relationship. A. EX. A person in a fused relationship reacts immediately (as if with a reflex, knee jerk response) to the perceived demands of another person, without being able to think through the choices or talk over relationship matters directly with the other person. B. Nuclear Family Emotional System – Is the patterns of emotional functioning in a family in a single generation. Certain patterns between father, mother, and child can be seen in past generations and are likely to repeat themselves in future generations. B. EX. In a fused relationship, where each partner looks to the other's qualities to fit his / her learned manner of relating to significant others, a pattern of reciprocity can be set in motion that pushes each spouse's role to opposite extremes. C. Family Projection Process – Involves the projection of parental conflict onto the child and can cause emotional impairment in the child. It starts with anxiety. The child responds with anxiety to the parent’s anxiety. The parent misperceives the behavior of the child as a problem in the child, not self. An effort is made to address the child’s problem and in the process the parent becomes to over protective and fuses with the child often because of care taking norms in our society. C. EX. When an illness in a child distracts one parent from the pursuit of closeness in the marriage. As tension in the marriage is relieved, both spouses become invested in treating their child's condition, which may in turn become chronic or psychosomatic. D. Triangles – Is the smallest stable relationship system. A two-person system is stable until anxiety arises then one of the people in the relationship contacts an outside person to reduce tension between the primary relationship.This may be chronic because a resolution to the problem