3 Needs That Make Family Essential!

Üsküdar University Founding President Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan participated as a speaker in the “Family Congress with an Interdisciplinary Approach” organized by the Memur-Sen Confederation and Ankara Social Sciences University.

Tarhan, who was also the moderator of the session titled “Family as Value”, presented a paper titled “Family Between Tradition and Modernism”. In his speech, he drew attention to three needs that necessitate the family; “There are three necessities for the family. The need for emotional sharing, the need for secure sharing, and the need for social support. The family cannot be destroyed because it meets these three human needs.”

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated, those very serious goals were aimed at the congress; “The original aspect of this congress is that it is a multidisciplinary family congress. It concerns not only social scientists but also scientific scientists, not only sociologists but also psychologists and psychiatrists. It is one of the important initiatives made by people who see the family issue as an issue to be solved. We are currently trying to find a solution to an issue that the whole world cannot find a solution to. There is a serious deterioration in the world in this regard. Social Scientists cannot predict what will happen 50 years from now on. There is no social transformation without mental transformation, and it is unrealistic to expect political transformations without a social transformation. So what needs to be done here in accordance with the need for mental transformation and this century? We're going to look for answers to these things. The judgments need to be questioned about whether the family's values live or not. This congress aims to present not only a thesis, but also antithesis and synthesis while addressing the family as a value.”

Noting that digital transformation also affects the family, Tarhan said; “Well-being is needed in the family, too. There is also a need to apply the science of happiness in the family. Positive psychology-oriented family truths are also needed in the family. This situation leads us to seriously investigate. The wealth level and welfare level increased in the world, but the level of happiness did not increase in parallel. There are three necessities for the family in this regard. The need for emotional sharing, the need for secure sharing, and the need for social support. The family cannot be destroyed because it meets these three human needs. We can list three diseases that weaken the family in this age as follows; The first is secularism. In this age, humanity has met with secularism seriously. Humanity has never been more terrestrial in human history. Secularism brought hedonism, tastiness. The pleasure brought selfishness, and selfishness brought solitude. The second item that weakens the family in this century is social anomie. Socially changing norms. The deterioration of the norms that keep the family together, the destruction of the walls that protect the family, and the narrowing of the privacy area. The third item is individualism. The understanding that the individual is sacred, not the family, was imposed. These three diseases can be named as the three diseases that weaken the family at this age.”

Underlining the need to redefine the concept of family, Tarhan said; “The definition of the concept of family needs to be redefined. Norms in the family need to be re-determined. Modernism changed the family as it changed society. If the family disappears in the society, as the family is the building block in the society, if the family institution deteriorates, healthy children cannot be raised. This is why suicide and divorce are on the rise in the Western world right now. 50% of those who get married get divorced.”