Poll Supporters, Which Family Role Were You In The Most?

[Justmehere]

If you are a current supporter of a PTSD suffer, and you have a dysfunctional family of origin, what role(s) do you happen to fall into the most in your family system? Pick 1-3 choices, but no more than 3. This is for supporters without PTSD only. If you have PTSD, please check out the poll at: Sufferers, Which Family Role Were You In The Most?

In dysfunctional families, it's common for people to take on different roles. This happens in groups of people under severe stress. It's a way humans cope with things they don't have the skills to handle in a healthier manner.

There's the caretaker, the bystander, the scapegoat... There are lots of articles about this phenomenon online. Some simplify the roles to perp, victim, scapegoat, and caretaker. Other models expand upon variations of those roles.

One article about those roles is here: Dysfunctional Family Rules and Roles | Smoky Rain Counseling Services It explains the possible roles in this poll. (I have combined the last two options as one option.)

There are many theories about why people fall into these roles, and much that is unknown about it. However, it's a pretty predictable pattern in dysfunctional families that they fall into these roles. Functional families will have flexibility and don't fall into these roles much at all, and if they do, people are able to move out of the role very easily and quickly.

 

[Nevermore]

But if you're in a dysfunctional family there really is no supporter! Everyone is dysfunctional just because of this - the roles you get cast into.
Some members might have a more comfortable role, but in the end everyone gets screwed!

 

[Justmehere]

The roles are not good things to be in, and they do lead to everyone getting screwed. They are signs of dysfunction in the family, not signs of health.

There are two people in my life who I could use as examples for how the roles can play out. Let's call them friend A and B.

These two friends are both supporters of me, a PTSD sufferer. They both happen to also come from dysfunctional families. I happen to know their families, and they are both in therapy for their own stuff. Neither has PTSD.

Friend A tends to be in the princess/golden child and the critic role in her family. She can do nothing wrong. She it doted on greatly. She responds when in her family by becoming very critical.

Friend B tends to end up in the scapegoat/black sheep role in her family of origin. Whenever something goes wrong, they tend to blame her. She out performs her family. Her parents praise her sisters all the time, but they give her a ton of crap. In her family she is the scapegoat, but she's still a supporter of me, and isn't the scapegoat in our relationship.