When the parental role is reversed and a child becomes responsible for the cares and needs of the parent or the marriage, it creates a profound wound in the child. This is often termed "Parental Inversion." A more serious form of this occurs when the child becomes the emotional (and sometimes physical) support, confidant and comforter for the parent. This is referred to as "Emotional Incest" or "Substitute Mate." Read Josh's story to help you understand how this can occur. Josh grew up in an addictive and sexualized family. His father was a workaholic and addicted to pornography and sex. He kept pornography in the magazine rack in the living room, and when Josh eventually got engaged to be m
Note from Jerry and Denise: This article was recently posted from A Pastor's Soul - a ministry focused on helping pastors and their families. It was written by David Sanford, who worked with us in 2017 to help us communicate our core message of helping people understand the need to love themselves as God does in order to fully love Him and others. David coaches pastors and other Christian leaders passionate about demonstrating the relevance of Jesus Christ in every major sphere of life. His book and Bible projects have been published by Zondervan, Tyndale, Thomas Nelson, Doubleday, and Amazon. His speaking engagements have ranged everywhere from UC Berkeley (CA) to The Billy Graham Center a
