Full Description
This scholarly and personal exploration of what it is like to grow up feeling unloved describes personality types and syndromes that often manifest, regardless of whether the family unit was "dysfunctional" or not.
Though recent decades have seen a great deal of discussion on the "dysfunctional" family, many people share a different problem, regardless of whether their family was "functional" or not: they are never given love, or taught how to receive it. This book will establish the concept of the loveless family by investigating scholarship on the subject as well as through the personal reflections and experiences of author Jon P. Bloch.
The Loveless Family: Getting Past Estrangement and Learning How to Love explains what a loveless family is, some of the typical syndromes seen within it, how families may cope with serious physical or mental issues, and how adults who came from a loveless family can develop meaningful relationships. This book is written to be engaging and accessible to the average reader, yet authoritative and also of value to scholars.
Contents
Introduction
PART ONE: THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE LOVELESS FAMILY
1 What Is a Loveless Family?
2 What a Loveless Family Does to You
PART TWO: COMMON SYNDROMES IN THE LOVELESS FAMILY
3 The Star Syndrome
4 The Bad Example Syndrome
5 The Frenemy Syndrome
6 The Ostrich Syndrome
7 The Clueless Meddler Syndrome
8 The One-Way Street Syndrome
9 The Short-Distance Runner Syndrome
10 The Volcano Syndrome
11 The Iron Butterfly Syndrome
12 The Interloper Syndrome
PART THREE: PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CONDITIONS, AND DEATH
13 Dealing with Serious Physical Conditions
14 Dealing with Serious Mental Conditions
15 Dealing with Death
PART FOUR: OVERCOMING THE LOVELESS FAMILY
16 Finding Lasting Friendship
17 Finding Lasting Intimacy
18 Relating to Children
Afterword: Forgiveness
Notes
Index
