Over the years, I have worked with many victims of abuse, women or men who were abused in childhood (I do not work with children). Sometimes the abuse consisted of neglect; often it was physical, and emotional. For many, it was sexual. I find it interesting that in my practice, the men who were sexually …
Category: recovery
How Do The Roles Play Out In Codependency?
As explained earlier, the roles learned by children are usually played out in adulthood. How would each of the roles adopt the role of codependent? It’s a little complicated but I’ll try to simplify as much as I can. Hero becomes the co-dependent in many situations. She finds a man who ‘needs her’ and begins …
3.5 Steps to Lasting Personal Change
Over the past few months, this blog has explored the roles, rules and characteristics of children raised in emotionally barren families. We’ve talked about your personal lives, families, friends and characters. But one constant has been the question: “Okay, that’s how I am, so how do I change myself?” Psychologists seem to agree that change …
The Most Common Characteristics of Adult Children
The next three characteristics are common in all the roles. In fact, I think they’re common in all people – well everyone I know, especially the last two. Overreact to changes over which they have no control. Constantly seek approval and affirmation. Usually feel that they are different from other people. Overreaction looks different among …
Three More Characteristics of Children from Troubled Families
As mentioned before, these characteristics first evolved from work with adult children of alcoholics but have now been generalized to anyone raised in an emotionally barren family. In the last two posts we discussed characteristics 1 – 4. Today we’ll look at the next three which include: Have difficulty having fun. Take themselves very seriously. …