Keywords
psycho-emotional tension
co-regulation
pseudo-regulation
family therapy
family roles
triangles
systemic psychology
How to Cite
Abstract
Aim. To provide a theoretical substantiation of a cyclic model of psycho-emotional tension regulation in the family system and to conceptualize symptoms, triangles, and family roles as interconnected mechanisms of the localization, redistribution, and stabilization of psycho-emotional tension. Particular attention is paid to identifying the mechanisms underlying transitions between co-regulatory and pseudo-regulatory modes of family-system functioning under conditions of chronic stress.
Methods. The study is theoretical and conceptual in nature. Its methodological framework is based on systemic, integrative, and regulatory approaches to the analysis of family interaction. The methods employed included theoretical analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, and conceptual modelling of contemporary scholarly works addressing family therapy, co-regulation, emotional adaptation, psychological resilience, and the neurophysiological mechanisms involved in the regulation of psycho-emotional tension.
Results. A cyclic model of psycho-emotional tension regulation is proposed, within which the family system is conceptualized as a multilevel regulatory structure functioning through the interaction of psychophysiological activation, emotional reactivity, communication patterns, feedback processes, and role stabilization. Within the model, symptoms are interpreted as mechanisms for localizing systemic tension, triangles as mechanisms for redistributing it, and family roles as mechanisms for maintaining functional equilibrium. The concept of pseudo-regulation is theoretically substantiated as a systemic mode of temporary stabilization of family interaction without the integration of psycho-emotional tension, and is differentiated from co-regulation, defensive regulation, and maladaptive regulation. It is demonstrated that the prolonged predominance of pseudo-regulatory processes may contribute to the formation of rigid interaction patterns, role fixation, and the chronicity of psycho-emotional tension within the family system.
Conclusions. The proposed model expands contemporary systemic understandings of the mechanisms underlying psycho-emotional tension regulation in the family system by integrating symptoms, triangles, and family roles into a unified cyclic regulatory process. The theoretical distinction between co-regulation and pseudo-regulation provides a foundation for the further operationalization of the proposed constructs, their empirical validation, and their application in research on family psychology, family psychotherapy, and psychological support for families experiencing chronic stress.
Keywords: family system; psycho-emotional tension; co-regulation; pseudo-regulation; family therapy; family roles; triangles; systemic psychology.
Received: March 4, 2026
Accepted: May 25, 2026
Published: June 30, 2026
References
Acar, I. H., & Yalçıntaş, Z. (2026). Dyadic examination of children’s emotion regulation in family context: Contributions of coparenting and parents’ self-compassion. Early Childhood Education Journal, 54(2), 953-970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-025-01896-w
Becvar, R. J., Becvar, D. S., & Reif, L. V. (2023). Systems theory and family therapy: A primer. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Bertalanffy, L. V. (1968). General system theory: Foundations, development, applications. New York: George Braziller, 295.
Bornstein, Marc H., and Gianluca Esposito. "Coregulation: A multilevel approach via biology and behavior." Children 10.8 (2023): 1323. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10081323
Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. Jason Aronson.
Cozolino, L. J. (2014). The neuroscience of human relationships 2e: Attachment and the developing social brain. WW Norton & Company.
Damasio, A. R. (1999). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Fialkoff, Y., & Pinchevski, A. (2023). From System to Skill: Palo Alto Group’s Contested Legacy of Communication. International Journal of Communication, 17, 541–559. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/19608
Frantsuzova, M. M. (2025). Komunikatyvni stratehii optymizatsii emotsiinoho zviazku u dytiacho-batkivskykh stosunkakh [Master’s thesis]. Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University.
Edler, K., & Valentino, K. (2024). Parental self-regulation and engagement in emotion socialization: A systematic review. Psychological Bulletin, 150(2), 154. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/bul0000423
Goldenberg, I., Stanton, M., & Goldenberg, H. (2016). Family therapy: An overview. Cengage.
Haley, J. (1992). Problem-solving therapy. John Wiley & Sons.
Havrylovska, K., Pyroh, H., & Palamar, A. (2024). Osoblyvosti simeinoi vzaiemodii osib iz riznymy typamy pryv’iazanosti [Features of family interaction among individuals with different attachment types]. Zhurnal sotsialnoi ta praktychnoi psykholohii [Journal of Social and Practical Psychology], (3), 50–55.
Hryshchenko, L. A. (2026a). Intehratyvna model emotsiinoi rehuliatsii: Khybna adaptatsiia yak mekhanizm rehuliatornykh porushen [Integrative model of emotional regulation: False adaptation as a mechanism of regulatory disturbances]. Molodyi vchenyi, 2(139). https://doi.org/10.32839/2304-5809/2026-2-139-23
Hryshchenko, L. A. (2026b). Systemnyi pidkhid do rehuliatsii napruhy v simeinii vzaiemodii: Funktsionalna intehratsiia mekhanizmiv [A systems approach to tension regulation in family interaction: Functional integration of mechanisms]. Psykholohichni perspektyvy, 47. https://doi.org/10.29038/2227-1376-2026-47-hry
Horn, A. B., Zimmerli, L., Maercker, A., & Holzer, B. M. (2023). The worse we feel, the more intensively we need to stick together: a qualitative study of couples’ emotional co-regulation of the challenge of multimorbidity. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1213927. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1213927
Johnson, S. M. (2019). Attachment theory in practice: Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) with individuals, couples, and families. Guilford Publications.
Lev-Аri, R. K., Aloni, R., Margalit, D., & Ari, A. B. (2024). Shared trauma: Examining the moderating role of parental psychological flexibility and self-compassion on PTSD and distress in refugee families. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 33, 100826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2024.100826
McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: central role of the brain. Physiological reviews, 87(3), 873-904. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00041.2006
Maksymenko, S. D. (2024). Metodolohiia henetychnoi psykholohii v mizhdystsyplinarnykh doslidzhenniakh osobystosti ta yii vnutrishnoho svitu [Methodology of genetic psychology in interdisciplinary studies of personality and its inner world]. Psykholohichni resursy rozvytku osobystosti v umovakh nevyznachenosti osvitnoho prostoru, 11–15.
Martin, V. E., Lougheed, J. P., & Hollenstein, T. (2026). Real‐Time Contingencies of Emotion Socialization During Parent–Adolescent Conflicts. Social Development, 35(1), e70045. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.70045
Metcalf, L. (2023). Marriage and family therapy: A practice-oriented approach. Springer Publishing Company.
Merzliakova, O. L. (2023). Psykholohichni chynnyky indyvidualnoi i kolektyvnoi stiikosti ta oporu viiskovii ahresii (analitychnyi ohliad) [Psychological factors of individual and collective resilience and resistance to military aggression (analytical review)]. Tvory, 17. Vinnytsia, Ukraine.
Minuchin, S. (2018). Families and family therapy. Routledge.
Morais, I., Carneiro, F. A., Sinval, J., Costa, P. A., & Leal, I. (2024). The Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire: Validity evidence from Portugal. Family Relations, 73(5), 3357-3377. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.13078
Neff, L. A., & Williamson, H. C. (2025). Stress and couple relationships: is couples’ relationship functioning a protective resource or a mechanism of decline?. In Research handbook on couple and family relationships (pp. 267-281). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035309269.00028
Nelson, B. W., Sheeber, L., Pfeifer, J. H., & Allen, N. B. (2021). Affective and autonomic reactivity during parent–child interactions in depressed and non-depressed mothers and their adolescent offspring. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(11), 1513-1526. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.6.887
Nichols, M. P., & Schwartz, R. C. (1984). Family therapy: Concepts and methods. New York, NY: Gardner Press.
Olson, D. H. (2000). Circumplex model of marital and family systems. Journal of family therapy, 22(2), 144-167. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6427.00144
Paley, B., & Hajal, N. J. (2022). Conceptualizing emotion regulation and coregulation as family-level phenomena. Clinical child and family psychology review, 25(1), 19-43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-022-00378-4
Peseschkian, N. (2012). Positive psychotherapy: Theory and practice of a new method. Springer Science & Business Media.
Prime, H., Wade, M., & Browne, D. T. (2020). Risk and resilience in family well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. American psychologist, 75(5), 631. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/amp0000660
Remmers, A. (2020). Theoretical foundations and roots of positive psychotherapy. Positive Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychology, 1, 27–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33264-8_25
Rodrigues, G. A., Waslin, S. M., Nair, T. K., Kerns, K. A., & Brumariu, L. E. (2025). Parental emotion socialization and parent–child attachment security: A meta-analytic review. Emotion, 25(3), 775. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0001457
Satir, V. (1983). Conjoint family therapy (3rd ed.). Science and Behavior Books.
Siegel, D. J., & Drulis, C. (2023). An interpersonal neurobiology perspective on the mind and mental health: Personal, public, and planetary well-being. Annals of General Psychiatry, 22(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-023-00434-5
Skrypnyk, T. V., & Kostrytska, T. D. (2022). Rannie vtruchannia z oporoiu na rodynotsentrovanyi pidkhid [Early intervention based on a family-centered approach] [Educational and methodological materials]. Kyiv Borys Grinchenko Metropolitan University Institutional Repository.
Sokolova, I. M., Shaikhlislamov, Z. R., & Ladyka, M. S. (2022). Vplyv umov boiovykh dii na psykholohichnyi klimat simi [The impact of combat conditions on the psychological climate of the family]. Vcheni zapysky TNU imeni V. I. Vernadskoho. Seriia: Psykholohiia, 33(72), 54–59.
Sterling, P. (2012). Allostasis: a model of predictive regulation. Physiology & behavior, 106(1), 5-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.06.004
Vaillant, G. E. (1992). Ego mechanisms of defense: a guide for clinicans and researchers. American Psychiatric Pub.
Van Eickels, R. L., Tsarpalis-Fragkoulidis, A., & Zemp, M. (2022). Family cohesion, shame-proneness, expressive suppression, and adolescent mental health – A path model approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 921250. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.921250
Wallis, A., James, K., & Rhodes, P. (2024). Introduction: The Craft and Values of Contemporary Systemic Family Therapy. In A Practical Guide to Family Therapy (pp. 1-5). Routledge.
Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J. H., & Jackson, D. D. (1967). Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies, and Paradoxes. W. W. Norton.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Liudmyla Hryshchenko