The Dysfunctional Family – Types Of Abuse

If you dreaded going home as a child or you avoid talking to your parents now, there may be a very good reason for that. Being raised in a dysfunctional home can leave you with deep emotional scars, and it can also set you up for adulthood full of issues.

Not every dysfunctional family is the same, and the different types of abuse within the dysfunction can result in very specific problems as you enter adulthood. There are five distinct types of dysfunctional families.

1. Conflict-Driven

If your home revolves around long-running feuds that pop off in hurtful disputes and heated arguments, then you may be in a conflict-driven dysfunctional family system. It is common for these families to pick fights or to try to create conflict by pressing each other's buttons. It's an incredibly stressful environment to live in.

When someone feels under threat, they retaliate, and it rarely matters what the conflict is about. The issue is an inability to clearly communicate, which means it's impossible to peacefully resolve issues. Children in these homes often have attachment issues and stress disorders.

2. Authoritarian

In an authoritarian dysfunctional family, the parents behave like dictators. They don't provide positive feedback to their children or each other, but they do make big demands. When a mistake is made, no matter how small, it receives a severe punishment. This may include spanking and yelling, but usually, corporal punishment is involved.

The authoritarian parent sets the rules and the children must fall in line, otherwise, they will not know peace. As a result, children learn to abide by the rules. However, they aren't doing so for the right reasons, it's merely to survive so, they aren't learning from making mistakes or gaining experience as a result of making mistakes. They become solely focused on avoiding mistakes to avoid punishment.

The result in adulthood includes low self-esteem, social issues (they can be overly shy or excessively aggressive), and prone to depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

3. Substance Abuse

Sadly, substance abuse is a part of normal living for a lot of children. That doesn't make it normal. When one or more caregivers have substance abuse issues, children often do not have their basic needs met. The person suffering from substance abuse may not feed their children properly, pick them up from school or take them for health checks. This causes unreliable parenting, which leads to insecure children. That can cause pent-up anger and trust issues. These children are also prone to anxiety and depression, and struggle to build healthy relationships in adulthood.

4. Emotionally Detached

For children who grew up in a home with a lack of affection, some issues follow into adulthood. A lack of physical affection sends children the message that they should learn how to repress their emotions.

As a result, these children bottle their emotions and struggle to open up to people as adults. This has a serious impact on friendships and romantic relationships. It can leave children with low self-esteem that carries into adulthood and leaves the adult with feelings of unworthiness. This type of dysfunctional home can lead to psychological issues.

5. Violent

Along with the substance abuse family, the violent dysfunctional family is what most people view as a dysfunctional home. Unfortunately, millions of children are exposed to physical violence at home every year.

Violence at home isn't restricted to just physical violence, it can also include psychological, sexual, verbal, and any type of abusive behavior that leaves a child feeling unsafe. Additionally, a child witnessing violence can have the same impact.

Trauma during childhood physically changes the brain because a child's brain is still developing. So, we see changes that increase the risk of substance abuse and psychiatric disorders. Brain imaging on survivors of childhood abuse has shown that there is a reduction in prefrontal cortex volume.

This is the area of the brain responsible for judgment, planning, impulse control, and follow-through. It results in a smaller hippocampus, which is the area of the brain responsible for memory and learning. There was also a reduction in cerebellum volume, which is the area of the brain responsible for coordinating thoughts and physical movements. Additionally, researchers could see excessive activity in the brain's fear center the amygdala (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3307045/).