The Father Wound

Further to my post yesterday about marital break-up and the damage it causes, the wonderful Jackie Parkes tweeted me a link to a really interesting website with an article about the epidemic of the Father wound. There, Dr. Fitzgibbons explains:
While the term “father wound” is not an officially recognized clinical term, it is used by many mental health professionals in identifying the origin of numerous emotional and behavioral conflicts in spouses, singles and children. These difficulties can be the result of failing to have a strong, loving and supportive relationship with a responsible father, or as a result of modeling after and then repeating significant weaknesses of the father such as selfishness, excessive anger, emotionally distant behaviors or indifference to the faith. Fortunately, many men have experienced a relationship with a father who was a strong, firm, reliable and trustworthy and was a protector of their emotional and spiritual lives.
He goes on to explain:
In the young, growing up without a father contributes to serious problems with excessive anger in the home, school and community, poor academic performance, sexual acting-out, difficulties in trusting, substance abuse and depressive and anxiety disorders.
It's well worth reading the whole article, especially if you were effected by some of the issues I raised yesterday.

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