The Best of You Episode 138: Breaking Free from Overfunctioning—Discover the Hidden Costs of Always Being 'The Responsible One’
Jan 16, 2025
Dive into the struggle of overfunctioning, where the burden of care often comes at the expense of personal well-being. Discover the concept of parentification, revealing how childhood roles can lead to adult struggles. Learn to identify five signs of having been parentified and explore practical steps towards healing. Alison introduces Mel Robbins' Let Them Theory, offering new tools for setting boundaries and prioritizing self-care, ultimately empowering yourself and others to grow.
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Overfunctioning As A Survival Strategy
- Overfunctioning is a learned survival strategy that shifts attention outward to manage others instead of oneself.
- This pattern replaces self-regulation with managing other people's emotions and problems.
Child Confidant Became Adult Invisible
- Alison shares 'Emily', who as a child became her mother's confidant and learned to read emotions for approval.
- As an adult, Emily felt invisible despite always caring for everyone else.
Parentification Distorts Family Roles
- Parentification reverses the family power dynamic by making a child the emotional caregiver.
- That role prevents normal emotional development and substitutes adult duties onto a vulnerable child.
