Generational inversion in the family: Repercussions of parentification in adult life

Abstract

This paper discusses the process of generational inversion within the family, focusing on the repercussions of parentification in adult life. Initially, we investigate the concept of parentification from its emergence in the field of psychoanalysis to its configuration in the field of family psychotherapy. Next, we differentiate the notion of destructive parentification from constructive parentification. Later, we discuss the repercussions of parentification in adult life, using clinical excerpts as illustration. We consider that generational inversion in its chronic aspect and full dimension leads to significant issues in the construction of a sound and confident personal foundation in adult life, affecting how adults who were negatively parentified relate with others. Such relations shift through the extremes, from the desire of fusion and absolute proximity to the desire of distance and refusal of others, and having insecurity and fear of abandonment as a background.