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Family Enmeshment in Addiction

26 Aug 2024 · 0 min

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0:22

This brief excerpt from a YouTube video by Amber Hollingsworth discusses dysfunctional family dynamics in the context of addiction, specifically how a non-addictive parent who isn't having their needs met may compensate by overly enmeshing with one child (e.g., the 'hero' or 'lost child'), treating that child like another adult.

One of the really dysfunctional things that you see frequently happen in a situation like this is the non addictive parent isn't getting their needs met. They'll start getting their needs met in other dysfunctional ways. And one of those ways that happens far too often is that they'll start pick one of the kids, maybe the hero kid or the lost child kid or something like that, and they'll start to overly enmesh with that kid and treat that kid like another adult.