What is family dysfunction?
Growing up in a dysfunctional family means that you had to be a parent. You had to parent your emotionally unavailable parents at a young age. Growing up in a dysfunctional family can affect your behavior, romance, and friendships today. You may feel negative emotions like anxiety and think poorly about yourself. At Wisdom Within Counseling, we help adults who feel like they grew up in family dysfunction. From learning about family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut. you can start to attract more calm, positive relationships.
To begin, click the button below for family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut.
Did family turmoil in childhood, emotional abuse, domestic violence, or even a parent’s mental illness cause family dysfunction?
How does family dysfunction start?
To begin, you may have had multiple conflicts with siblings, sibling rivalries, and rebellion against your parents. Your parents may have ben mentally ill with depression, bi-polar, or borderline personality disorder. As a youth, watching your parents use drugs and alcohol may have been normal. As well, even being raised in a single parent household can create a level of family dysfunction.
How can family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut support self-worth?
In addition, family dysfunction comes from having a sibling or a parent who is struggling with alcoholism. An alcoholic can not be emotionally present for their children. Also, if you had a parent with drug abuse problems or a parent having an affair, this creates family dysfunction. Growing up around cheating, lying parents leads a child to feel low in self-worth. Children often blame themselves when their parent can’t love them. Low self-esteem and anxiety are common in adults who have family dysfunction. Maybe, one of your parents emotionally or physically neglected you. Or, you never were told, “I love you,” which is painful. One of your parents or siblings may have had a gambling issue or was unemployed. Your parents could not meet the basic needs of your family. Family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut helps you rebuild self-love and anxiety coping tools. You can use art therapies, yoga therapies, music therapies, and drama therapies. Wisdom Within Counseling specializes in holistic, family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut.
To begin, click the button below for family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut.
Growing up in a dysfunctional family means that your emotions were not important to your caregivers.
Were your emotions and needs put on the back burner?
If so, as an adult, feeling neglected in childhood affects how you feel about the world and yourself. As an adult, you might feel like you are never good enough. As well, you may feel that you always are striving to prove yourself. No matter how many diplomas you get, your parents may still think of your sibling as their favorite. And, no matter how good of a job you do, your parents and siblings may still look down upon you. Counseling support true self-worth, rather than seeking approval. In a dysfunctional family, you family never gave you the praise or appreciation you deserve.
Working with a therapist who specializes in family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut can help you gain self-worth.
If you grew up being told you were never good enough, learning to be good enough in adulthood takes time. Therapist at Wisdom Within Counseling understand how deeply you want to feel safe, loved, and heard. Counseling can teach you how to put yourself first. Through art, yoga, music, and animal therapies, you can build a world that feels safe to you.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, our team of counselors specialize in creative options in family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut.
Do you struggle to feel good enough?
Growing up, your parents may have had alcohol, drug, and lying problems. As an adult, now, you might identify as an adult child of alcoholics. And, as children, we learn from our parents how we deserve to be treated. If you had to be a caregiver for a sick parent, you may have felt afraid and anxious. Living on edge in childhood takes away from the freedom childhood can bring. And, if you cared for an unhealthy parent, you missed out on your childhood.
In your adulthood, through family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut, you nurture your inner child.
As well, you may have learned from abusive parents that you do not deserve respect or love. Unfortunately, when your parents treat you neglectfully, you learn that is all you deserve. In adulthood and in counseling, you can learn that you deserve self-respect. From a place of low self-worth, you may find yourself in negative relationships.
How can counseling in Westport, Connecticut help?
Sometimes, in adulthood, you may partake in poor decisions. You may even struggle with alcoholism yourself. Adult children of alcoholics may have learned to numb out from their parents too. Working with a therapist can help you gain healthier coping tools for lifelong wellness. From counseling in Westport, Connecticut, you can start to attract more respect in your life. Even though you may not have gotten respect in your childhood, you can learn to love yourself. If you had abusive or emotionally neglectful parents, you are not alone. Self-love and positive self-talk take the help of a counselor. Learning to love and accept yourself is possible through counseling. You may go through waves of emotions when you think about your parents, from anxiety to anger. Sometimes, you feel grateful for them. Otherwise, you feel angry for the hurt they caused. At Wisdom Within Counseling, family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut helps heal your inner child.
Family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut can support learning better ways of parenting and attract nurturing relationships.
Did your parents teach you how to cope in negative ways?
You may have learned to deal with tough emotions and issues in negative ways. For instance, you may be drinking alcohol, having emotionless sex, or even workaholism. Perhaps, your parent never said, “I love you.” Now, is it hard to give and receive love? Do you find yourself in unhealthy emotional relationships? As adults, you still carry emotional pain from childhood because we deeply want to be loved, appreciated, and wanted. At Wisdom Within Counseling, you can build confidence and clarity that your childhood lacked.
In your childhood, did your parents cause you to feel unwanted or unloved?
Often, you may have felt abandoned. In romantic relationships, fears of abandonment are very real. For children who experienced rejection from a parent, wanting to be accepted by a romantic partner is even more real. You may find yourself in high conflict fights or yelling at your romantic partner. Family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut can help adults and couples alike develop calm communication. Now, you will more deeply want to feel respect and love in your adult years. The deep longing to feel respected and loved can transfer into anger and rage quickly. Through the help of the therapists at Wisdom Within Counseling, you can build healthy communication tools.
An adult, do you find yourself acting in unhealthy ways?
When children don’t get love or respect, they may act an emotional, negative ways into adult years.
Overall, counseling at Wisdom Within can help you overcome dysfunctional issues from childhood. Right now, you may find yourself drinking fear too much alcohol. As well, you may numb out or take part in other sabotaging behaviors. Perhaps, you keep secrets, or don’t know how to talk to your partner about certain topics. In addition, you may be working too much and using work to numb out. Video game and technology addiction are other numbing out methods. It can be hard to be a parent in a positive way if you never had good models. If you parents hurt you, you may want professional guidance around parenting. Lastly, family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut, can guide and teach you positive parenting techniques, acceptance, and self-love skills.
To begin, click the button below for family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut.
How can perfectionism be a trait from family dysfunction?
Having a parent with a physical illness can cause feelings of shame and depression for children. Children may ask themselves, “Why doesn’t my parent want me?” Or, “Why won’t my parent pay attention to me?” As a child, you remember your parent not being able to run around and play with you. As well, if your parent is mentally or physically ill, to this day, you may have feelings of anger. Furthermore, in childhood, you had to take care of younger siblings or your parent. Missing out on playful childhood memories leaves a lasting impact. Gaining clarity is something we can do with you. Searching for inner peace is something a therapist can support you with. You are not alone if you are looking for family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut.
Did you parents suffer from severe depression or bipolar disorder?
As well, children who have a parent with medical problems or mental illness feel shame and blame. In your youth, did you blame yourself for your parent’s issues? In your childhood, you may have thought that it was your fault that your parent never got better. You may have tried to do the best job, and still didn’t get praise. Getting recognized and getting attention were very difficult in childhood. That is why, now, when it feels like your spouse isn’t recognizing or respecting you, that you get upset.
If you did well in school, did you hope it would make your parent happier?
When you parent is in a dysfunctional relationship with themselves, they can’t create a loving family life. They instead create a dysfunctional family culture. Lying to children, keeping secrets, and emotional abuse create chaos for children. So, having a parent with an untreated mental illness like borderline personality disorder or depression can create conflict. Yelling may have been normal in your home growing up. As a child, you may have had to be the parent to your parents. Now, in your adulthood, you want a therapist who really understands dysfunction. And, you realize that you never got the love that you deserved in childhood.
How does family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut help romantic relationships?
Maybe, your parent had a mental illness where they didn’t tell you they loved you and didn’t show you affection. Every day, you hoped your parent would tell you, “I love you. I am proud of you.” However, they didn’t and you felt unwanted and unloved. Maybe, one of your parents even abandoned you and left. That leaves you feeling sad and hurt. Now, in adult years and in your romantic relationship, you deeply want touch. And, when your partner takes away or withholds affection, you feel hurt all over again. It feels like a controlling parent is taking away love again. When you fight with your significant other, you feel hurt and angry like you did in childhood. Overall, couples counseling and adult counseling helps you rebuild positive connection in your relationships. Family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut helps you build healthy communication skills.
Working with a therapist in Westport, CT at Wisdom Within Counseling and help you share your story and feel confident.
You can talk openly about your parent who was not able to be there for you. Due to their own medical problems and mental illness, they were not the best parent. Through family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut, you now can heal as an adult. Maybe, you want help setting boundaries or gaining clarity. You can learn to take the very best care of yourself and shine brightly.
Did you have a family with narcissism traits?
As well, if you had a parent who was narcissistic, that leaves emotional trauma. Or, if you had a sibling with drug or alcohol problems, you may feel hurt. Perhaps, you found out one of your parents was cheating, and you feel betrayed. As you grow up into adult years, counseling can help you feel at peace with your childhood. Also, a parent with lying, manipulation, or gambling issues, leads to codependency in children. You may feel like you have to take care of your significant other. So, therapy can support healthy boundaries and freeing yourself from codependency. Also, as a child, you may have walked on eggshells. Out of fear, you didn’t make too much noise out of fear of waking your drunk parent.
Rather than tip toeing around others, you can learn to live a vibrant, authentic life.
Did you change actions due to having an alcoholic parent?
Furthermore, in your childhood, you may have avoided having other friends over. As a result of alcoholism in parents, you didn’t have friends over out of shame. You knew your parents were different than other parents. In addition, you felt embarrassed of your parents being an alcoholic or not there. You always wanted love as a child, but didn’t get it. Furthermore, when your parent has a severe drug addiction, it can drain your family’s financial resources and create emotional conflict. You deserve to have positive, loving relationships in your life.
Perhaps, your parent was out gambling, spending time and energy and money on their own addiction rather than helping you.
Children learn to cope with dysfunctional family dynamics through codependency. As well, children change their behaviors to make their parents happy. And, no matter the changes, dysfunctional parents will never be satisfied or happy. As a child, you tried very hard to appease or calm your parent who was having a belligerent, drunk episode. Your parent forced you to do tasks round the house, and care for siblings. This was not okay, but you did it out of fear of getting abused.
How can family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut help after sexual or physical abuse?
Maybe, even if you did all the things they said, you were even physically abused by your parents. In someways, while they were drunk and passed out, you had a moment of peace. Overall, looking back at your childhood, you felt unloved. You parent would forget all about the abuse and yelling the next day. They acted like nothing happened, which made your childhood even more dysfunctional. As well, any memories of physical abuse and sexual abuse play a role in romantic relationships. If you are dating or married, painful events from childhood can cause chaos in your relationships to this day.
Are you a high achiver?
As well, some parents put a lot of pressure to be perfect on their children. If you grew up with a perfectionist parent, you may be a high achiever. Or, if you had a parent that was highly critical of you, you may have low self-worth now. Growing up with a parent who has a high level of perfectionism can make you into a high achiever. Unfortunately, high achievers often have insecurities and low self-esteem. On one hand, you may have gone to college and have higher education. However, you may never feel good enough no matter what. You want your parent to approve and paise you, but they never will.
Right now, you may feel like you are on the hamster wheel of life and filled with anxiety.
To begin, click the button below for family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut.
Having a parent who has perfectionistic traits can be toxic to children. As a child, you may have felt like you were walking on eggshells and could never do anything right in your parents eyes.
Even if you washed the dishes, they would make you rewash them. Your parents laughed at you when they were drinking alcohol. And, they would make you rewash the dishes because you didn’t do it their way or the right way.
As well, children who have parents that put pressure on them, didn’t get to have a playful childhood. You may have noticed that other children got a different type of parent. If you had a lighthearted way of being, your parent lowered your self-esteem through their dysfunction. Also, you may have felt incompetent, and you were told that you were clueless. These hurtful jabs from your parent to you leave a lasting negative impact.
You have may have even felt worthless or an adequate and still feel that way in your adult years.
The damage of verbal and emotional abuse that parents can do in dysfunctional families causes children to grow up and feel in adequate as people in adult years. To add, family dysfunction counseling in Westport, Connecticut can help you build positive coping tools. No longer, do you have to look over your shoulder out of fear.
Overall, counseling at Wisdom Within can help you build your self-esteem back up and help you trust your intuition. You may have a voice inside of yourself that is critical. Maybe, your negative voice tells you to dirnk more alcohol or numb out more. Well, at Wisdom Within Counseling, you can build a life worth living. You can learn art therapies, yoga therapies, music therapies, and walk and talk therapies for confidence and self-worth. Your therapist in Westport, CT can help you build positive self talk skills. As well, therapy can help you feel safe again in the world.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, you receive empathy, emotional validation, and unconditional support.
Growing up in your childhood, you may have felt that your parents love was conditional. They may not have been there for you when you needed them, even though they say they did their best. Right now, you deserve to receive respect and love. So, through counseling, you can build a healthy family you desire. Counseling also helps you be a better parent, friend, and sibling. Working with a team of therapists in Westport, CT at Wisdom Within Counseling helps you become a positive person. Childhood dysfunction can create fear-based thoughts. So, through counseling, you can positively parent yourself and your loved ones. As well, from counseling, you can be more loving to yourself and others, and truly practice self love.
How can Westport, CT therapy help you build confidence?
Rather than belittling or criticizing yourself, you can start to talk positively to yourself. Next time you hear your abusive parent’s voice, you can learn to stop that. You can speak yourself in a positive manor from the guidance of therapy. As well, you can learn that you deserve love in your romantic relationships. If you are looking for positive coping tools, you are in the right place. And, you can start attracting healthier, nurturing friendships too.
You no longer have to live by sabotaging yourself, numbing out with technology, abusing alcohol, or being a workaholic. From Westport, Connecticut counseling, you can gain positive coping tools. As well, working too much can take time away from being your authentic self. Furthermore, through Westport, CT counseling, you can slowly reduce your perfectionist traits that limit you.
