The Jordan Harbinger Show 942: Ken Adams | The Confusing Dynamics of Covert Incest
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Jan 16, 2024 
Ken Adams, an expert on emotional enmeshment, joins co-host Gabe Mizrahi to discuss how covert incest shapes mental health and relationships. They explore the unhealthy dynamics of enmeshment and its long-term effects, including challenges in adult romantic connections. The conversation highlights how to identify enmeshment, the often-overlooked links to abuse, and the steps necessary for healing. Listeners gain valuable insights into breaking destructive patterns and fostering healthier boundaries in relationships.
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Emotional Enmeshment Defined
- Emotional enmeshment, or covert incest, is an unhealthy, overly intimate parent-child relationship.
- The child becomes a surrogate partner, fulfilling the parent's emotional needs.
Causes of Enmeshment
- Several factors contribute to enmeshment, including parental personality disorders, mental illness, addiction, and dysfunctional marital relationships.
- A common scenario involves one parent being absent, leading the other to seek emotional support from a sensitive child.
Examples of Enmeshment
- One person skipped an anniversary weekend to change their mother's lightbulb, illustrating the obligatory nature of enmeshed relationships.
- Enmeshed parents often criticize their child's partners, aiming to keep the child from leaving them.
