Children Living in The Shadow of Addiction. Caught Between Love And Fear. Episode 2.

Inside The Consulting Room - Understanding the Child Behind the Behaviour · Mar 8, 2026 · 10m · transcript

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We look at how children adapt to parental addiction by becoming the emotional caretakers at home, and why love and fear toward the same parent can last into adulthood. We explain parentification, disorganized attachment, and the quiet grief for the parent and childhood that never arrived.

• reversal of care as parentification

• ambivalence in attachment when safety and danger share a source

• defensive idealization and blame turned inward

• conflicted internal objects of the sober and intoxicated parent

• adult patterns shaped by childhood vigilance and loss

• limits of…