Dear Dr. Fink,
I enjoyed your article and wanted to add some additional insight. I’m a 47 year old female who grew up in an affluent household – with an alcoholic father and a mother (now I know) who exhibited narcissistic personality disorder.
As a teen, when I started to act out I was sent to therapists – MD’s – who could “prescribe” and my parents basically instructed them to “fix” me – and I often joke I was raised by therapists, because of my parents inability to deal with our families issues.

I embraced the opportunity to be able to share my feelings and fears in the safety of their offices, and eventually, they would ask my family to participate – and of course, then they were called quacks – and I returned to the chaos. This pattern repeated itself umpteen times…it went beyond there inability to be truthful – fortunately, I was able to understand this at an early age and had wonderful professionals assuring me of my sanity.

This article struck a chord with me, and I just needed to play it for you, and perhaps still for myself. Best, Julie