Posted by backseatdriver on September 1, 2009, at 11:36:27
In reply to Emotionally Connected(but oppositely so.), posted by Danneh on August 31, 2009, at 22:09:37
This reminds me of psychological "enmeshment," where members of a family sort of "distribute" emotional work over the whole family. So the father might be emotionally reserved or withholding and the mother, to compensate, might overreact to everything. Over time, both the mother and the father reinforce these "characteristic" behaviors in each other -- each becomes more "himself" or "herself." (In the worst case, each becomes a caricature of himself or herself.) Enmeshment isn't necessarily bad -- it might be a good way of dealing with naturally differing temperaments, for instance. Everyone gets a role in the family that's suited to their emotional style.
poster:backseatdriver
thread:915170
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090730/msgs/915246.html