Dysfunctional Families Have This One Thing In Common

They pretend they’re not.

“Perhaps nothing so accurately characterizes dysfunctional families as denial.”
― John Bradshaw, Bradshaw on the Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-Esteem

Dysfunctional families tend to have one thing in common: they pretend. They pretend they don’t feel it. They refuse to talk about it and they refuse to change. Anyone that tries to bring the skeletons out of the closet is labeled “crazy” or “negative.” So the members have two choices:

1. Continue to play a role in the dysfunction and keep the fake “peace.”

2. Be the change the system needs and possibly risk abandonment or isolation.

This is the first email in the December subscriber only series: When Families Pretend. In this email I discuss:

• What it looks like when families pretend

• Why families deny the dysfunction

• Why pretending doesn’t work

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