Tag: family scapegoat
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Beyond the ‘Identified Patient’: The Structural Reality of Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA)
Family Scapegoating Abuse may lead to the creation of the IP in families, but it is certainly not passive. It is instead a dynamic, targeted, active and persistent mechanism of systemic identity overwrite and attempted erasure.
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The 5 Tenets of Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA): The Power of Naming the Unseen.
While often confused with Narcissistic Abuse, my 20 years of clinical work, qualitative research, and peer-reviewed (published) quantitative studies have proven that FSA is a unique systemic phenomenon. It is a structural “pressure valve” used by dysfunctional family systems to maintain a false sense of stability, or “homeostasis”.
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FSA and Malignant Narcissism: Impact and Recovery Strategies
Surviving Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) can leave lasting scars on individuals, impacting their mental and emotional well-being for years to come. At the heart of certain (not all) FSA dynamics lies the phenomenon of malignant narcissism, a complex personality disorder not included in the DSM-5. Malignant narcissism is characterized by a toxic blend of narcissistic,…
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Radical Acceptance and Scapegoat Recovery: The Power of Accepting What IS
Releasing attachment to highly charged emotions and events does not mean that one is “giving up” on themselves or “giving in” to abuse from others. It is simply a process that supports people in coping with past and/or current life circumstances that cannot be changed and that they are powerless over.
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Study on Childhood Verbal Abuse
I’ve noticed within the Mental Health field that the scapegoating of a child or adult child is frequently referred to as a form of ‘verbal abuse’, which I find concerning and somewhat misleading, given that FSA is driven by psycho-emotional, systemic processes in dysfunctional or narcissistic family systems, hence it can be covert, insidious and…