I CAN’T BELIEVE
I’ve been so duped!
PREVIOUS: Double Messages, Part 6
FACING OURSELVES
1. Many of us grew up drowning in Double Messages (DMs). Being raised in this kind of atmosphere this is how we connect with others, using this way of communicating in all relationships, especially the intimate ones. So if we’re serious about Personal Growth & taking responsibility for our patterns, it’s important to see how this all plays out
Childhood EXP: In many alcoholic families, where the addict (& most everyone else) is/are in total denial – if one of the kids has the nerve to complain about or object to the harmful effects of the drinking, the alcoholic (& others) will label them as THE problem, rather than the addiction, because that kid is disrupting the family’s fragile mobile (Post: B. Distortions, #1).
Then the whistle-blower child is forced into either being a co-dependent enabler, OR withdrawing & eventually leaving the family altogether. Either way – everyone loses.
Adult EXP: 2 clients who both attended 12-Step meetings were going to the same psychologist – separately. At some point they started dating.
> Sarah didn’t tell the therapist right away, but instead asked his opinion about seeing someone in the Program. The reply was that it wa
s not a great idea, especially in the first year of attendance. Sarah finally came out with the whole story but concluded: “I get it, you just don’t want me to date Chuck!”
> After a few weeks Sarah complained in session about all the problems with Chuck. She said in angry accusation: “So why didn’t you warn be against seeing him? Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?”
>> AND there was the DM: The therapist was bad for “preventing” and bad for “not preventing”.
However, he didn’t get caught, but pointed out the Double Bind she had created so she wouldn’t have to own her decision or deal with the stress of two WICs trying to have an adult relationship!
PS: the 2 clients did marry AND eventually divorced.
REVIEW / REMINDER : Parental DM – forced on the Hero, the Introvert or the Sensitive child :
A. Incompetence – Be dysfunctional, like us (misery loves company)
• parents (& later our PP) want us to be their carbon copy : fearful, self-hating, stuck, not risking, depressed, powerless, OR controlling, angry, limited, paranoid ….
• and they spend a lot of time putting us down, pounding into us all the things we can NOT do, & how lazy, weak, wrong, selfish & over-sensitive we are
BUT ALSO:
B. Competence : Be 
functional, like we wish we were (so you can take care of us)
• we must make them feel safe, not feel abandoned, fix them, be their parent
• and, have to be : > perfect, strong, gutsy, able to take risks – for them
> have backbone, fight for them, save them from themselves
> be smart, capable, clever, & use all our knowledge (for THEM)
AND
C. Be in Denial (the way we are)
They won’t tolerate questioning or objections to how they’re treating us, insisting that we’re ungrateful, making things up, being defiant, ‘difficult’, spoiled….
“I never said that! , How dare you speak to me that way?! , Stop complaining, after all I’ve sacrificed for you!…. ” DENY, deny, deny what we’re doing to you.
★ This DM forms the basis of our own DB – next post
OUR PAIN: They were our first role models. What kind of example did they set? Kids absorb & imitate their parents, regardless. We imprint on them like ducklings! Yet what left for us is fear & confusion.
• If they were capable of **truly loving us, they would have wanted us to be happy, free & successful – for ourself. So obviously they didn’t / couldn’t love us – not really!
No matter how much we don’t want to hear that, the WIC knows!
Just because they say/said “I love you” doesn’t mean they do – except in some narcissistic way. Remember, if you had been truly loved, you could have ‘normal’ human insecurities, but NO self-hate!
NOTE ** Healthy parental love is expressed in many ways, but most of all by being Nurturing. Children can only develop self-esteem if they feel truly loved. And that can only happen if parents have the capacity to be loving, kind, supportive, rational, available, sober…. not just give it lip service.
NEXT: ACoAs & Self DBs, Part 8b
HEAL & GROW for ACoAs 
This is my first visit to your blog.Must say you are amazing writer.very nice article indeed.
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This double bind thing arouses interest in me – my brother said some thing to me about two years ago to the effect of our mother being strange and can’t make her mind up – now, I don’t recall the exact words, and the words I have used really are not of a sufficient comparison, as what he said could have come out of a one of those movies depicting crazy people.
My brother, at any time I suggested speaking with him about things that happened whilst we were growing, would just change the subject really abruptly or turn away and start into doing something else.
Many years after I left home as an adult, I started to talk to my mother about some things she said or did, and she totally denied saying such words or their meaning or denied having done the action – one thing seemed farley meaningless to me and was just a reminiscence and she total avoided it. One was to say I was greatful and she would not have it.
When I was 4 and 5 I said I did not like what I was given and my mother told me, and not harshly, “You should be greatful”.
Thanks, Peter.
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