But when a child is saddled with adult responsibilities, it can turn into a damaging phenomenon known as “parentification.”Parentification is essentially when the child and caregiver swap roles. So the kid is emotionally supporting the adult (known as emotional parentification) and/or managing the logistics of the household (known as instrumental parentification). Emotional parentification tends to be more harmful than the instrumental type. Advertisement“So instead of the parent taking care of the child’s needs, the child takes care of the parent’s needs,” she said. If this sounds all too familiar, read on as therapists share the signs you may have been parentified as a child.

Source: Huffington Post March 05, 2024 16:50 UTC