
Contact information
Webpage: www.psicoterapiaquiasma.com/psicologa-camila-del-solar
Phone number :+56958184302
Email: cfdelsolar@gmail.com
Country of work: Chile / Portugal
Offers: Online therapy in Spanish.
Interview:
Contact information
Webpage: www.psicoterapiaquiasma.com/psicologa-camila-del-solar
Phone number :+56958184302
Email: cfdelsolar@gmail.com
Country of work: Chile / Portugal
Offers: Online therapy in Spanish.
Interview:
Therapeutic approach: Holistic psychotherapist
Contact information
Webpage: https://www.doktortakvimi.com/gozde-nalcaci/psikoloji/ankara
E-mail: nalcacigozde@gmail.com
Phone number: +905424073220
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Interview:
I prepared this online workshop for pregnant soon to be moms, that want to emotionally prepare for upcoming childbirth in the safety of their own home. In my own birth preparation, I used a lot of different therapeutic tools that I knew from my own work and which I am also sharing in this workshop.
HOW IT WORKS?
I have written 14 assignments for you, which you will receive periodically on your email over the course of 41 days. In addition to the first and last email, you will receive one email with the assignment every third day. This way, you will have 3 days to complete one assignment. Workshop is divided in tree main parts:
1st Part: In the first three exercises, we will focus on your feelings about the pregnancy and how the culture you are in influences your transition to parenthood.
2nd Part: In the main part of the workshop, we will focus on childbirth. In the first five exercises we will through creative tools explore feelings regarding birth and the last two exercises are designed to help you recognize any questions you may have regarding birth and develop a Birth plan.
3rd Part: This last part is of practical nature. Through exercises, you will learn to let go of the control and calm overwhelming emotions. Exercises in this part are meant to be practiced frequently until the delivery day.
Please note that besides writing, the workshop contains a few creative assignments. However, there is no need to be a talented writer or a world-renowned artist. Use of creativity in self exploration is not just for creative people. Creating something is a method that helps us get in touch with our emotions where the words cannot reach. For me, it is important that you have the opportunity to express your emotions regarding birth and this way make sure that they don’t surprise you in the delivery room. Besides giving you the space for your feelings in this workshop, I will as well give you the tools on how to deal with (overwhelming) emotions.
DURING THE WORKSHOP, YOU WILL NEED THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS:
-a printer (nice to have but not a must)
-pen
-drawing materials like color pencils, watercolor paints, crayons, marker pens etc.
-optional material you can use are colorful papers, glitters, macaroni pasta, natural materials such as leaves, chestnuts
-glue, scissors
-music player (a cell phone or a computer that can play mp3 file)
WORKSHOP IS SUITABLE FOR:
-first pregnancy
-second (or more) pregnancy/es
-women who decided for natural birth, pain relief labor and C-section
-all the exercises are written out, so the workshop is suitable for individuals with any hearing impairments as well
WELCOME TO JOIN!
PRICE: 60,00 EUR.
PAYMENT:
You will receive your first email after the successful payment. Just in case, check in the spam as well. In case of any technical difficulties, please contact me via roomfornurture@gmail.com.
With the purchase of this workshop, you automatically agree to Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
You can pay by Bank transfer HERE
or with:
NOTE
Pregnancy is a time of big changes, most of which are out of our control. We develop our pregnancy belly, our breasts become larger, and our hormone levels fluctuate. It’s our body’s way to prepare for the birth. Change can trigger memories from our past, some of them we are unaware of and some we may not have dealt with previously. Early memories often come to us through our body’s sensations and feelings. In pregnancy, it is especially important to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to deal with whatever is coming your way. However, sometimes the feelings are overwhelming. In that case, it is best to find an empathic friend or a therapist that can help us through this tough period. Read my article about awoken memories during pregnancy HERE.
ABOUT ME
I have been working as a psychodynamic body oriented psychotherapist for a decade now.
I worked with many pregnant women and couples along this time, giving them prenatal and postnatal support.
Living abroad and working with different nationalities widened my perspective and deepened my work as a therapist.
If I would pick 2 things that I believe in is learning and empathy.
Reading about grief turned out to be the healing practice that helped me with my own sudden loss of my mum. I want to share with my readers the books that find a place on my nightstand. I read everything, from personal experiences, science and spiritual believes around dying and death. Books don’t reflect my personal believes but I did include in this articles paragraphs that resonated with me.
BOOKS ABOUT:
Dying
Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death by Joan Halifax
This book describes the Buddhist view on dying and include lessons from dying people and caregivers, as well as guided meditations to help readers contemplate death without fear.
“When sitting with a dying person, I try to ask myself carefully, what words will benefit her? Does anything really need to be said? Can I know greater intimacy with her through a mutuality beyond words and actions? Can I relax and trust in simply being here, without needing my personality to mediate the tender connection we share?” (Page 10)
Death
Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death by Irvin D. Yalom
Throughout the book author guides us how to deal with our fear of death, which is often at the heart of our anxiety.
“The frightening vision of inevitable death, he said, interferes with one’s enjoyment of life and leaves no pleasure undisturbed.” (Kindle location 92)
“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.” (Kindle location 1165)
The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is famous for her life work regarding death and dying which bear fruits in many books. I decided to read her autobiography, but I suggested you take a look at her other books as well.
“As he neared the end, my father refused to eat. It was too painful. But he asked for different bottles of wine from his cellar. It was in character. On the last night, I watched him sleep in excruciating pain. At some critical point, I even gave him an injection of morphine. But then the next afternoon the most extraordinary thing happened. My father awoke from his troubled sleep and asked me to open the window so he could hear the church bell more clearly. For a few moments we listened to the familiar chimes of the Kreuzkirche. Then my father began conversing with his own father, apologizing for letting him die in that dreadful nursing home.” (Page 124)
Grieving process
In It’s OK That You’re Not OK by Megan Devine
One of my favorite books about grief. Many people who have suffered a loss feel judged, dismissed, and misunderstood by a culture that wants to “solve” grief. Author normalize our experience of grief and shine much more realistic view on grief process.
“Suffering comes with being told to not feel what you feel. Suffering comes with being told there is something wrong with what you feel. Suffering comes with all the crap that gets loaded on us by friends and colleagues random strangers who, with the best of intentions, correct, judge, or give advice on how we need to grieve better. Suffering also comes when we don’t eat, don’t get enough sleep, spend too much time with toxic people, or pretend we’re not in as much pain as we’re in. Suffering comes when we rehash the events that led up to this death or this loss, punishing ourselves for not preventing it, not knowing more, not doing more. Suffering brings with it anxiety, and fear, and isolation.” (Page 89)
Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief: A Revolutionary Approach to Understanding and Healing the Impact of Loss by Claire Bidwell Smith
Author sheds light on a largely hidden dimension of what many grieving people experience: anxiety. In the book you will find explanation for your experience and practical help to ease grief anxiety.
“Until you’ve actually lost someone close to you, there is no way to comprehend the enormity of the experience.” (181 Kindle location)
“After the death of a loved one, many of the fears that run through your mind can be perceived as more of a threat than before the loss. You have witnessed someone die, and now that inevitability is more real than ever before in your life. So when you have a fear-based thought about that person’s death, or about your own mortality, or a worry about losing someone else, your body and mind are reacting stronger than before you experienced loss”. (317 Kindle location)
“After we go through a major loss in life, we tend to become hypervigilant to bodily sensations such as these. Whereas before the loss we may not have noticed these same bodily sensations, now that we have experienced the death of a loved one, we are preoccupied with the thought that something similar could happen to us, so when we feel the sensations of worry in our body, our fear response increases.” (362 Kindle location)
Loss
Of spouse
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
This book is a classic. Author describes his grief process after he lost his wife.
“I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace.”
“Did you ever know, dear, how much you took away with you when you left? You have stripped me even of my past, even of the things we never shared.” (Kindle location 495)
A Matter of Death and Life by Irvin D. Yalom
There are two authors of this book. Irvin describes the process of losing his wife Marilyn to the cancer, and she describes her process of dying.
“When I shall be facing death, there will be no Marilyn hovering, always available, always beside me. There will be no one holding my hand. Yes, my four children and my eight grandchildren and many friends will spend time with me, but alas, they will not have the power to penetrate the depths of my isolation.” (Kindle location 953)
The year of magical thinking by Joan Didion
Author describes grief process throughout a year following her husband dead and the death of her daughter due to illness. In the book she incorporates medical and psychological research on grief and illness.
“Despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions that surprise us and they may cut free memories and feelings that we had thought gone to ground long ago. We might, in that indeterminate period they call mourning, be in a submarine, silent on the ocean’s bed, aware of the depth changes, now near and now far, buffeting us with recollections.” (Page 27)
“Person under the shock of genuine affliction are not only upset mentally but are all unbalanced physically. No matter how calm or controlled they seemingly may be, no one can under such circumstances be normal.” (Page 57)
Of parent
The Orphaned Adult: Understanding and Coping with Grief and Change After the Death of Our Parents by Alexander Levy
Author describes what grief process looks like after the death of our parent. Although losing our parents when we ourselves are adults is in the natural order of things, this passage proves inevitably more difficult than we thought it would be. This as well is one of my favorite books that I read.
“Parental loss is a powerful event that spurs some towards maturation and creativity while propelling others into a regressed reclamation of unfinished adolescence. Perhaps death of a parents in adulthood is the midlife crisis.“ (Page 60)
“Parental death divides adulthood into three distinct stages: The time with two parents, the time with one parent, and the time with no parents. Each parent’s death is the threshold for the next stage, a signal to move on as distinct as the ringing school bell announcing that it is time for students to go to their next class. Those in one stage of parental loss tend not to be able to imagine the realities of people who have progressed to the next one. And because those at the same stage share a common experience and point of view, they tend to congregate and become friends.” (Page 99)
Of child: look books in sudden death section
Sudden loss
General
The Sudden Loss Survival Guide: Seven Essential Practices for Healing Grief (Bereavement, Suicide, Mourning) by Chelsea Hanson
Author gathers everything that she learned during her own recovery process and provides an indispensable road map to aid those who’ve experienced a life-changing loss.
“About six months after Mom died, I weighed a meek 110 pounds due to sudden weight loss. I suffered migraine headaches, endured the care of a neurologist, and experienced an excessive need to sleep. I was physically sick with grief—something I didn’t even know could happen. Despite these conditions, I appeared “fine” on the outside. Perhaps it was wishful thinking from others combined with my failure to ask for assistance as well as my false façade. Inside, I knew differently. I felt like a part of me was lost. I was bewildered, disoriented, and was not functioning effectively.” (Kindle location 1497)
By accident
The Loss of Lacey: A Mother’s Story of Facing Her Greatest Fear and Coping with Devastating Grief by Nancy Jarrell O’Donnell
Books talks about the mother who lost a daughter Lacey in a car accident. I would recommend this book to everyone that is going through the sudden lost. She gives a lot of inside about emotional state after the loss. Her anguish is tangible. As a therapist herself, she also includes a lot of practical interventions and scientific research combined with her painful personal story.
“Several years later, I learned that this kind of obsessive behavior—the engraved vision in my mind and my need to know—was typical for someone suffering from traumatic grief. At the time this was all happening, I just felt crazy.” (Page 28)
“The nature of the death and its circumstances play a significant role in experiencing traumatic grief.” (Page31)
“I was plagued with all the “I should have’s,” and thought about what I could have or should have done to prevent her death I learned to stop this thinking. It would not bring Lacey back and it only resulted in my feeling worse than I already did. Parental guilt comes with the territory of just being a parent. Not allowing guilt or shame to seep into my drastically changed life became work in progress for me day by day.” (Page 32)
By suicide
Silent Grief: Living in the Wake of Suicide by Christopher Lukas
The book explains the profound, traumatic effect suicide has on individuals left behind and the world of silence, shame, guilt, and depression that can follow this event.
“Survivor may begin to ask why so many people around them seem either oblivious to their pain or are cruel in the way they are reacting to it; why the support that might be available to them if their loved ones had died in a car accident is absent because the death was a suicide.” (Page 37)
“There is one pervasive reaction that survivors have to suicide, it is guilt. Suddenly, there seem to be endless reasons to feel responsible for the death. What could I have done to keep the loved one alive? Did I do enough? Was I neglectful? Did I ignore warning signs?” (Page 39)
“The guilt and depression among parental survivors does seem to be more intense and longer lasting than among others. Every single parent to whom we talked expressed this same feeling: their “job” had been to protect their child—and they had failed. Perhaps their worst nightmare of this is the fear that if one child dies by suicide, others will too. Parents sometimes express intense anger toward their dead child, followed by denial of those feelings, then intense guilt and depression.” (Page 127)
No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving The Suicide Of A Loved by Carla Fine
Author discovered her husband, a successful young physician, after he took his own life. She speaks frankly about the overwhelming feelings of confusion, guilt, shame, anger, and loneliness that are shared by all survivors.
“There is no dignity or privacy in suicide. The police, the super, the dog walkers, the gawkers all found out that my husband killed himself at the same exact time it was confirmed to me.” (Page 27)
“After my husband’s death, I felt that I was the focus of gossip. I sensed that there was this question about my integrity as a wife. I felt very pointed-out, judged, and objectified. My friends gradually stopped including me in their plans. I don’t know if they dropped me because I was a single woman or because of my husband’s suicide or both. All I know is that when I was invited to two weddings of the children of people who had been my closest friends, once I was seated with three elderly widows and the other time I was put at the children’s table. My circle of friends—the couples—were sitting together.” (Page 144)
“For many parents, guilt over their children’s suicide is compounded by the real or perceived prejudgment that they are responsible for the actions of their children.” (Page 157)
By homicide
Coping with Traumatic Death: Homicide by Bob Baugher
This book is a practical guide of what to expect after the homicide regarding the legal system, funeral arrangements, and police investigation. It is combined with the personal story of a father who lost his daughter to homicide. Book is written for American legal system, but it can be helpful for other countries as well.
“In addition, many families of violent crime victims report that an added burden to their grief was the way in which the media reported the crime.” (Kindle location 220)
After the trial, you might fall into a “black hole.” You feel yourself slipping into a state of confusion and dejection. Your disposition will become confusing to you and others at times, and you may think you are going crazy—and, in a way you are—grief is a kaleidoscope of crazy feelings coming and going.” (Kindle location 553)
I Am Jessica: A Survivor’s Powerful Story of Healing and Hope by Jamie Collins
Authors family members are brutally murdered while she is away having a sleepover at her friend’s house. At the time 10-year-old Jessica tells her story now as an adult and describes her struggles coping with a murder of her family.
“I had no idea how I was ever going to get over this, or if I even should. How could anyone get over this? It was such an evil act”. (Kindle location 1046)
“Something is different about her. I sense it. It’s something I notice right away. She is now more of a silent spectator. She just sits, or stands there, watching. Always watching, but not really engaging. Not really talking. Not really having fun with us. Not really. If something happens that is funny, she does smile, but it’s more of a smile of acknowledgment, not a true reaction. When she does smile, her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. Her eyes seem flat. Far away. Distant.” (Kindle location 1489)
A Grief Like No Other: Surviving the Violent Death of Someone You Love by Kathleen O’Hara
Author describes her grief after her son was brutally murdered. It is a helpful book to normalize your feelings and prepares you of what is yet to come.
“From the moment you hear of your loved one’s death, from the moment you learn of the violent act, you are forced to become a player in an unexpected scenario, one for which you have no script. Everything is happening very quickly; you are shocked by what you are seeing or hearing. You are not merely a spectator; you are living this. Almost immediately, you will need to inform other people of the events at hand. They will probably include members of your family, friends, relatives, doctors, nurses, and legal or other professionals involved with the situation.” (Page 5)
“Survivors often feel as if they are the ones with the problem, as though they are rejected by the very society they thought they were part of. You may feel as if you did something wrong, and unfortunately there may be people who sometimes unconsciously or unintentionally reinforce this notion. For example, when Aaron and Brian first disappeared, people whom I knew suggested that my son was involved in something I didn’t know about, which must have been the reason he was missing.” (Page 9)
We torture ourselves with what we could have done differently. We play the scenes of our lives over and over again, and struggle to recall whatever our last conversation was before the tragedy occurred —how casual or trite it may seem now—why couldn’t we have expressed our love, said a meaningful good-bye? We judge ourselves harshly, see our faults and magnify them—why weren’t we kinder, more generous with our time or attention, and on and on. We make endless lists of what we could have done but didn’t do. We beg for just a moment more to love, to change, to make it different, or even for history to rewrite itself, for us to be taken in that persons place. But instead, we are left with the terrible realization that nothing we can do will change what happened and we must learn to live with it. (Page 99)
Author: Ania Seretny
When we think of our anger and aggression, the approach often relies on fixing these states, quietening them down, or getting rid of them completely. This article will explore if these strategies are possible, recap what anger and aggression are, and relate fundamentals of Aggression Replacement Training.
What is anger and aggression?
Anger is the adaptive emotion that plays into the vast pallet of our feelings. We need anger as a part of our reactive toolbox. It is a big part of our self-protecting safety mechanism that our ancestors needed when they were fighting off and hunting animals. That held true for when we lived in steppes and forests and holds true until today as we live in the urban jungle. Years of psychological work however distinguished the emotion of anger and aggression. Aggression is the behavior that is hurtful to others and ourselves. You may ask if it is always hurtful. Yes, even when our moral compass is agreeing with our decision to engage in aggressive behavior we still actively are hurting someone or ourselves.
Why do we continue to be aggressive?
Aggression can play a big part in relationship building. These are behaviors that we train our whole lives and bring into our intimate relationships. The drawbacks of anger are simple to list: feeling of guilt, physical and psychological pain, stress and anxiety, withdrawal, losing relationships, consequences of breaking trust, and many more. So the question arises why we still engage in behaviors that are so destructive. The answer is simple: there is something to gain. Aggression is powerful, it is lively, and even passionate. This is not being said to glorify aggression but bring it into a realistic light. If we discard these gains of aggression we can quickly slip into the above mentioned strategies: “I’ll just get rid of it and won’t do it again”, “I’m a calm person, I will stay calm next time”.
Underestimating the powerful gains of aggression is one of the main reasons we do not successfully approach changing our behaviors. Life-long training of aggressive reactions and relationships that feed off aggressive interactions cannot be fixed overnight. However this behavior can be trained over time.
How to change my aggressive reaction?
To anyone who is stepping on the journey of self-development and is interested in anger management and Aggression Replacement Training – congratulations! Being open to changing hurtful behavior and finding the motivation to retrain aggressive reactions is a big task that I find to be connected to courage. It is a journey during which you first need to realise that working on your aggressive reactions is also taking away those gains mentioned above. Powerful gains that serve as our protective shield. The principles of Aggression Replacement Training say that deciding not to be aggressive should be paired with training other skills. We take away aggression and replace it with prosocial skills. Skills that do not hurt others or yourself. So, the foundation lies on realistically analyzing my anger and aggressive reactions, deciding not to engage in the aggressive reaction, and using an arsenal of social skills to communicate in a different way.
Realistically, you need to put a lot of effort into such a training but the effects are ones to look forward to. Long term effects of aggression are detrimental to our health. Learning communication tools that are non-aggressive aim to build relationships and most importantly realize that arguments and unpleasant situations do not have to come at such a high emotional cost.
My name is Ania Seretny, I am a psychologist and a certified Aggression Replacement Trainer. I conduct training for adults, supporting them in developing social skills and dealing with aggression. Sessions are conducted as dynamic workshops in accordance with cognitive-behavioral practices.
Contact
Email: aniaseretny@gmail.com
Initial consultation: https://calendly.com/aniaseretny/
Type: Lecture.
This workshop is educational, which means you will get a better understanding what anxiety really means. You will learn what is happening in your body during a panic attack, what is happening inside of us regarding thoughts and feelings and what behaviors help anxiety to persist. You will gain the idea of what can you do when feeling anxiety, but there will be no direct guidance or practical exercises.
Duration: 2 hours.
Price: 45 euro.
When: Friday, 22. November 2019.
Hour: 18.00-20.00.
Where: Less than 10 people: Raumer Strasse, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. // More than 10 people Ruppiner Strasse, Mitte, Berlin.
Suitable: People dealing with panic attacks/anxiety and people who are close to someone with anxiety.
Payment: Through bank transfer or Paypal before the workshop.
Cancellation policy: In case you have already booked the spot and you are unable to come, I will pay the full refund back if you cancel at least one week (until Friday, 15.11 at Midnight) prior to the workshop. After that no refund (full or partial) is possible.
Apply here:
In this article I want to touch a psychology effect of wealth. Scientists found that children from homes with an annual income of more than £100,000 were suffering anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms twice as often in comparison to their peers. Also children from multi-generational wealth are more at risk for criminal behavior, eating disorders, and addictive disorders. It is important to emphasize that it is not the wealth per se causing the higher risk of mental disorder development but also the cultural context and environment.
Traps that occur by raising a child in privileged environment
• Unfortunately, many wealthy parents neglect their children. They are too busy to pay emotional attention to their child. The child may have been over indulged with material things while starving for parents love and attention.
• Rich parents may intrude excessively into the lives of their child. Meaning that they are crossing the child’s boundaries and not letting him develop his own ways. They are doing things instead of him and also telling him what and how to do things. Which can later in life lead to a loss of self-sense.
• Impossibly high expectations are transmitted not only by parents but also by the entire community-teachers, schools, coaches, and peers. The child can feel the pressure of succeeding in larger than life terms but on the other hand very little is expected from him in a sense of responsibilities. Parental expectations can be particularly excessive if the family has an established tradition of wealth and position. While this works well for some children it doesn’t for others. This is especially true if the same standards are applied across all the siblings. There is no space for individual identity-family and others sees you as part of the family dynasty.
• Kids aren’t required to support themselves. Which can give you a feeling that you are incapable of such a thing. That makes you dependent on your family even if you don’t want to be. To learn how to provide for your self plays important role in self-esteem.
• Envy from others plays significant role in wealthy child psychological development. We don’t only have pressure from inside of the family but also outer world is putting pressure on our personality development. Wealthy children are often target of envy. They are seen as successful by their peers simply for being born in wealthy family. They can respond with feeling guilty to have so much. Consequently many hold back and stay beneath the radar so that they won’t feel over exposed. Also it is hard to distinguish if people pay attention to you because of your wealth or because of who you are.
• On the other hand they can gain a lot of admiration from surrounding. People don’t admire their true self and accomplishment but what they have. Which makes your personality connected to the family wealth and is hart to feel stable without it. They often feel like they have only one way out-continue the tradition. Also being admired all the time makes you feel lost when someone is not responding to you this way which can show up as anger or self-doubt.
Personal characteristics that wealthy children often develop
To grow up in wealthy family encourages development of certain characteristics that are not excepted well elsewhere. Behind their backs people may resent them for this type of behavior but they are rarely faced with direct disapproval due to their status. It is hard for this children to develop realistic identity if they are not confronted whit their dysfunctional behavior.
Among those characteristics are:
• Lack of empathy/awareness of others. They can believe that they are empathic person and are surprised to learn that people see them differently. They often mix their charity work and materialistic help with empathy. From their perspective this is familiar behavior because in their home they got material things instead of emotional support. At the same time they secretly expect praise for this kind of help and are wearing it proudly.
• Selfish, insensitive behavior which they feel is justified or they are not aware of it. They refuse to face how people respond to them. Although in same level many of them can see that people are not sincere to them.
• Feeling of entitlement.
• Difficulties with taking interpersonal responsibility.
• Elitism and materialism infiltrate their character, their relationships, and their quality of life.
• They can have low capacity for tenderness in close relationships, high capacity for chauvinism and narcissism.
• The wealthier people become, the more they believe that they can control many aspects of their life and design exactly the kind of life they want. They come to expect perfection and submissiveness from others.
Problematic areas that are hidden behind mental disorder
• Lack of self-discipline: Wealthy children have problem focusing and sustained energy, as well as postponing gratification for ultimately higher rewards. Lack of consistency and following the rules (that were agreed ahead) also shows in therapeutic relationship. Last minute cancellations and arbitrary requests to re-schedule are commonplace.
• Delayed maturity. Living in a cocoon of wealth often prevent a person to mature. Most overprotected children eventually do grow up, but many delay or even avoid the process.
• Low self-esteem: Person that was raised in wealthy family describes well how low self-esteem is built: “You’re not taught to do practical things, because everything is done for you. Being denied the opportunity to fulfill developmental tasks and experience the ebb and flow of triumph and mistakes breeds the narcissistic expectation that all things should be simply handed over on a silver platter. But inside it feels like you are incapable to do it alone.” Children that are high in the spectrum of Narcissistic personality disorder doesn’t realize their low self-worth. They are covering it up with narcissistic behavior which is only a symptom of their very low self-esteem.
• Week identity: Children of wealth often begin life with prescribed identities and a sense of social and financial superiority. Expectations of what they should become are preventing them to development a firm identity.
• Suspiciousness or even paranoia: to not to trust others is probably how they were raised. “People want you for money”. It must feel really horrible that you are haunted by the feeling that it is never you but your family money. “What does he or she really want from me?” Consequently there is a fair amount of isolation. “We grew up hearing warnings about every girlfriend and buddy we had. So I learned to be suspicious, and it has been hard for me to overcome that legacy.”
• Fear of failure runs high among inheritors. The child of wealth may feel that nothing they can accomplish will ever match the huge accomplishment of the money makers. They suspect their successes are due to wealth and position. All of this can undermine the self-esteem. It’s hard to be sure they have achieved anything, or are really liked by others.
• Lack of motivation: “My biggest hurdle is my laziness and the fact that I know that I won’t be ruined if my art doesn’t work out.” Available wealth makes it hard to stick to goals in the face of setbacks and frustrations. Sometimes inheritor’s goals are ill-defined, particularly when it comes to career. Inheritors are not driven by life’s necessities. Their motivation is often short-lived and lacks intensity. “You might want to and you might make the effort, but you don’t have the same pressure to earn enough to live on. And that takes away a lot of the incentive to find meaningful work. The biggest curse of intergenerational wealth for me and many other people is the illusion that you don’t have to do much with your life.”
Final words
To rise psychologically healthy children it is essentially to give them emotional and not just material attention. This is far more important for healthy development then material things. Moreover it is important that they take responsibilities suitable for their age. Taking responsibility away have negative influence on positive identity and self-esteem.
Teach your child about finances, responsibility and work. It doesn’t need to be hard work, just work. So they learn to put off gratification and enjoy in their own achievements. Also realize that they are individuals just like you and I. They have their own wishes and they are not obligated to follow your lead as well you are not obligated to support them once they become adult.
For the child raised in wealthy family that feels lack of motivation, anxious, and depressed it is important to find help. In therapy proses with them the privilege is “taken away” which can be really hard for some. Pushing through it brings something far more important-the sense of self.
Base of this article is a book by Madeline Levine: The price of Privilege and my personal experience working with privilege clients. We often think that where is money there is no problems. As seen from this article privileged children have far greater possibility to develop mental disorder in comparison to their peers. Their problems might be different from ours but that doesn’t make them less serious. In therapy it is important to work with them on distinction between them and family inheritance, on feeling that they are capable of taking care of themselves, give them sense of how they come across, on learning to take responsibility and help them to become their true self.
Family system good or bad influences our personality, the way we see the world and feel about ourselves. Unfortunately being raised by the narcissist parent is a tough spot to be in. You are probably dragging with yourself a very negative perception of you which influences a lot of areas in your life. In this article we will take a look on the hardships that comes from being raised by the Narcissist.
Pain from upbringing
Having to accept that your parent doesn’t love you like other parents love their children is the painful process. You have to grieve the loss of the parent you never had. Really grieve the fact that you didn’t get the love and support you needed. Part of that requires releasing the fantasy that your narcissistic parent can change and eventually give you what you need. They are unable to change. At least not to the extent that they would be able to give you genuine love. Sometimes accepting that can make your relationship with narcissistic parent bearable but there is nothing wrong with cutting all ties with your narcissistic parent.
Also we often forget about the other parent-the not narcissistic one. There is a lot of pain hiding there too. This parent was allowing the abuse to keep happening. He was the silent observer and didn’t protect you the way he should. Usually children defend this parent, because he was the safe haven while growing up. But in therapy after we deal with pain that was cost by narcissistic parent the new pain and anger emerge directed toward the other parent. Why didn’t you do something? Why you haven’t protracted me? “One of the most heart-breaking moments for me as a child was realizing that dad knew what was going on. After a bad beating from mom, he brought me a candy bar.”
Negative self-image
Children of narcissistic parents often wonder if they are really lovable. You distrust and devaluate your inner selves as nothing of value could come from inside. “I feel worthless and unlovable. If anyone shows affection, I know that they only do it because they want something in return.”
You are chronically unsure of themselves, and overly-worried about what others think of them. You feel insecure, because you never experienced unconditional love. “I fight the things I’ve been called almost every day, things like stupid, lazy, fat, drama queen, property, slightly mentally retarded, selfish, paranoid, hypochondriac, and more.”
Underdeveloped identity
Child raised in Narcissistic family is forced to ignore his own needs and desires. The boundaries between mother and child become so blurred. Not only that, the parent was not in tuned with the child and they labeled children’s emotions according to their own. That leaves behind the confusion of who I am, what am I feeling? Also child often don’t know how to read their own body because parent didn’t give the right words to emotions and body sensations. Person who is not connected with his feelings is puzzled by an ache in the heart, palpitations, shortness of breath and a churning in the stomach. They become dissociated from their feelings and bodily sensations and consequently often end up exhausted and ill.
Consequently, you don’t trust your instincts, and have trouble expressing your feelings. You worry that if you assert yourself you will risk losing love. Because you are so used to please others your identity don’t have the opportunity to fully develop. “I sense for a very long time that my body wasn’t my body. It could be abused, or I could be held down and tickled to crying point or made to dance for visitors. I’m still over-sensitive to being grabbed or pulled by anyone.”
Guilt and shame
Another major sign of being raised by narcissists is the constant feelings of guilt and shame. They are coming from inability to meet your parent expectations and being constantly humiliated. You can also experience chronic feelings of emptiness. To avoid this feeling you can escape to hyper sexuality or acting out (in a potentially harmful manner) for attention.
Avoiding error
Child of narcissist tries to avoid error even at a brand new or difficult activity. Some can be deadly afraid to go out of their routine. Narcissistic parent teaches their child that there is only perfection or failure. They believe that they should appeared perfect and with no need of help. Consequently they avoid taking chances because of the fear of (parental) judgment. They stay in the security of sameness.
Boundaries
Most likely you have poor interpersonal boundaries and inability to say “no”. People-pleasing is very common behavior. You are deeply afraid to speak up confidently or challenge others. You are going to need to discover boundaries, where you begin and your parent ends, to free your authentic self. When you choose who you want to be, rather than who your parents wanted you to be, you break free from their narcissistic grip.
Noticing the details
Like in Borderline families also child from Narcissistic family becomes attuned to the changes in the environment. “Changes in tone? Check. Micro-shifts in facial expressions? Noted. Gestures that contradict spoken words? Documented.” You had to be “emotion detective” in order to survive your childhood. You can be highly sensitive and intuitive to the needs of others, but you are also constantly on the lookout for what’s about to come. This can lead to taking on other people emotions and not being able to set a healthy boundary in adulthood. “I’m intensely aware of body language, and that comes from the ‘walking on eggshells’ life and trying to anticipate. It’s distressing when people are telling me one thing and their body language is telling another.”
Narcissist becomes Narcissist?
If you were a golden child there is a strong possibility that you will become a narcissist. You can turn out to be self-centered, have the compulsive need to be always right, you are unable to take criticism, demand perfection from others and yourself, you can become hypersensitive and continuous feel mistreated by others and you desperately need to be loved. If you grow up watching your parent exploit others, you can lack a strong moral compass and transfer this behavior to the people around you. “I’m ignorant. You may tell me things, and I will even ask you where you went on holidays, how long did it take you, who was with you – and 2 minutes later I won’t remember a thing. I learnt to block out the screams and nonsense that my mother tells me over and over again, and unfortunately, I now subconsciously do the same to the other people.”
Beside Narcissistic personality disorder, you can also develop other psychological disorder such as Borderline personality disorder, anxiety, depression, addiction or Schizoid personality disorder. “I self harm. During my life it varied, but included things like blade cuts, excessive masturbation, biting lips and gums.”
Beside psychological problems you can develop a bunch of (psycho) somatic issues like migraines, autoimmune disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, and heart problems. Bottom line is trauma causes all kinds of physical and psychological problems. “I eat. I am morbidly obese. I would gladly trade for one of those addictions that don’t show so prominently, like workaholic or excessive exercising. But this is what I’ve got. I wish I could lay it down.”
(Romantic) relationships
Children from Narcissistic family often have unhealthy relationship. There are several aspect contributing to it:
Being raised by a Narcissist causes a deep wound that takes a lot of time and determination to heal. Basically, you need to put your energy in to mothering yourself. Maybe that means getting re-parented by a therapist, to some extent by romantic partnership, friends or nurturing neighbors. All of these people can become part of your collective parent who gives you love, support, helps you through painful times and reminds you that you are worth it. With time you will internalize this nurturing collective parent that you didn’t have at the time of growing up.
Narcissism runs on a spectrum, from healthy narcissism to malignant narcissism, with a lot of gray in between. Narcissistic people suffer tremendously from their childhood trauma and this pain is too much for them to carry, so they pretend it’s not there or they keep lashing out on other people to ease their own pain. Narcissism doesn’t have to be absolute. It can show up in little ways and often under the guise of doing “what’s best” for your children. It tends to play out inter-generationally, with narcissistic parents producing either narcissistic or codependent children. Parents who are narcissistic share many traits with parents who have Borderline Personality Disorder. The traits of these two disorders overlap quite a bit. The difference between BPD and NPD is how they use manipulation. BPD is trying to prevent abandonment and NPD is trying to maintain the image of perfection.
Narcissistic trails in parenthood
Possessives
Narcissistic parent can be defined as someone who lives through their children and is possessive towards them. Typically, the narcissistic parent perceives the independence of a child as a threat. As long as you don’t represent a threat to your narcissistic parent, and are making them proud, they are OK towards you, or continue to ignore you. But the moment you become difficult or don’t meet their expectations, you become a problem. It is very hard for them to let their possession go. This typically shows when you get serious romantic partner. Your new girlfriend is viewed as a major threat. “My mum criticized my girlfriend to me when she wasn’t around. She was showing her disapproval through little things, like never included her name on any Christmas cart that she wrote.” In the eyes of some narcissistic parents, no romantic partner is ever good enough for their offspring.
Boundaries
Within the realm of narcissistic parenting, personal boundaries are often disregarded with the goal of molding and manipulating the child to satisfy the parents’ expectations. They would go through your private belongings, without a thought, sometimes even using what they found against you. Asking nosy questions without noticing that you are feeling uncomfortable is also very common. You don’t have any truly private space even in the bathroom. Narcissistic parent crosses boundaries in many ways. Verbal and/or physical violent is common in their home.
Lack of Empathy
Narcissistic parent is incapable to be mindful of the child’s own thoughts and feelings, and validate them as real and important. Only what the parent thinks and feels matters. Some of the most common issues in narcissistic parenting are due to the lack of appropriate, responsible nurturing which ultimately contributes to a child’s dysfunctional patterns. Consequently children feel little or no emotional attachment to their parent.
Manipulation
Narcissistic parent use manipulation to mold you the way they want you to be. The most common tactic used by the narcissist are:
Narcissistic rage
Their rage is based on fear. Anything that is threatening to expose their inner feelings of unworthiness needs to be destroyed. “My mom just flipped out when I said I am getting tired of pretending in front of my relatives that I am still studying to be a doctor. She started hitting me and screaming unclear sentences. I didn’t dare to tell my relatives the truth after that.”
Everything is about them
Narcissistic parent take all of the air in the room. Their profound need for attention and praise subverts everyone else’s needs. They turn others to be their listener. They don’t notice their boredom, exhaustion and desire to speak too. They love to show others how “special” they are (grandiosity). They enjoy publically parading what they consider their superior dispositions, be it material possessions, physical appearance, projects and accomplishments, background and membership, contacts in high places, and/or trophy spouse and offspring. They go out of their way to seek ego-boosting attention and flattery.
Maintaining the appearances
They like to present a perfect family image to outsiders. They go to great lengths to ensure that others perceived your family as a loving, successful and enviable. Children are normally aware of this play, but kept silent for fear of wrath from their parent.
Everything is personal
Narcissistic parents take their children’s every feeling or action personally. These parents are easily angered when a child doesn’t agree with them or mirror them. They expect the child to be happy when she is and miserable when she is. If the child is happy when the parent is sad, it is taken as a sign of disloyalty and insensitivity. They are so sensitive to praise and admiration as fuel that it makes them overly sensitive to criticism. So children learn to tiptoe around these emotional minefields, trying not to trigger that anger, or worse, have their parents withdraw love. The child of narcissist parent is never seen as he truly is. Of course, there are moments when child objects to his parent, but even then he feels bad, wrong, and confused.
Marginalization
Some narcissistic parents are threatened by their child’s potential, promise, and success, as they challenge the parent’s self-esteem. Consequently, they might make a concerted effort to put the child down, so the parent remains superior. They are nit-picking their child, they are judgmental and critical towards him, they constantly compare him to someone better and reject his success and accomplishments. Whenever someone complimented your achievements, your parent would jump in and shift the attention to themselves. “Yes, she gets it from me. I was always athletic as a child.”
Grandiosity and Superiority
Many narcissistic parents have a falsely inflated self-image, with a conceited sense about who they are and what they do. Some children of narcissistic parents become the same: “We’re better than they are.” This sense of grandiose entitlement, however, is almost exclusively based on superficial, egotistical, and material trappings. They feel more important because of materialistic things or status they have in the society.
Dependency
Narcissistic person is strongly dependent on others. The dependency can be emotional, physical, or financial. They are trying to make you dependent on them (possessiveness, manipulation), so they can control you. One common tactic to do that is to infantilize you. This can be as direct as making you feel incompetent every time you try something new, or it can be as subtle as always stepping in and offering to do something you can clearly do for themselves. Unfortunately, this behavior rarely stops even after you become an adult. In fact, it can sometimes become worse as the narcissistic parent fears their children’s growing independence and the end of their narcissistic supply.
On the other hand some parents expect their children to take care of them for the rest of their lives.
Humiliation
Narcissistic parent berated, demeaned and harassed you on a constant basis. She often latched onto an insecurity of yours and used it to humiliate you. “My mom made fun of my birth mark on my face all the time.” Many of her putdowns are simply by comparison. She’ll talk about how wonderful someone else is or what a wonderful job they did on something you’ve also done. The contrast is left up to you. She’ll spoil your pleasure in something by simply congratulating you for it in an angry, envious voice that conveys how unhappy she is. If you complain about mistreatment by someone else, she will take that person’s side even if she doesn’t know them at all. It is impossible to confront someone over their tone of voice, their demeanor or the way they look at you, but once your narcissistic mother has you trained, she can promise terrible punishment without a word. Being constantly put down or told that you are in a wrong rubs off on you and lowers your self-esteem.
Golden child doesn’t shine so bright
Narcissistic parent often choose the favorite child or so called golden child. A golden child can’t do anything wrong, is the smartest and the best at everything they do. This is what the narcissistic parent believes and will enforce in their child. The other child (scapegoat) is seen as the black sheep, and the cause of all issues. Everything the scapegoat does is wrong, not as good as it should be, and they always have to take the blame. The scapegoat stands for everything that is not perfect in the family. The roles of golden child and scapegoat can also switch frequently. Consequently all communication between siblings is superficial and driven by duty, or they may never talk to each other at all.
The narcissist also uses favoritism and gossip to poison her children’s’ relationships. While she may never praise you to your face, she will do that in front of your siblings. The end result is a family in which almost all communication goes through the narcissistic mother. Golden child can become narcissist himself but not necessarily. They can see the favoritism and feel guilty for it.
There is a lot written about anxiety and its symptoms. In my work, I notice few more indicators or symptoms that occurred often together with the anxiety. I decided to list them below. It doesn’t mean that you will have all the symptoms but it can help knowing that it’s not so uncommon to experience the following:
»I will die, go crazy or have heart attack« this is an obsessive thought that is common with anxiety. With time you will realize that nothing serious will happen while having panic attack but this thoughts will still pop up in your head. It is hard to get rid of them. It is very common that you have more than one intrusive thought. For example, »Will I have panic attack again?” or “How will I come through the day?” or “I am not strong enough«. Even if you proved yourself other vice time and time again you will still have this thoughts that comes to your mind.
»Pain«
Unusual or long persistent pain can cause fear that something is seriously wrong in people with anxiety.
“Unknown food or medication”
Thoughts that something bad will happened when we swallow unknown medication or eat new food are common.
“Sport”
Sensation when heart beads faster during sport can resemble panic attack. Which can begin real panic attack. Consequently many people with anxiety may avoid Sport.
“Swallowing”
In my work I have notice that ¼ of people with anxiety have fear of swallowing. Usually they have previous experiences with asthma or their throat becomes dry and tightens during panic attack.
“No escape”
Fear that you can’t escape form situation, feelings or place can cause enormous distress and anxiety.
“Smell, sight or sound sensitivity”
During panic attack many people have very sensitive sight, hearing or smell. It can even deepen their unpleasant feelings while experiencing the attack.
“Vivid imagination”
Persistent negative thoughts connected to us or significant other. For example, we are crossing the road and we imagine how we will get hit by the car. Imagination can get very detailed. I also notice that people with vivid imagination often report to me about fear of the dark.