Child of Narcissists Goes from 'Death-Dealer' to Healer

Charlotte was seven years old when she became in her words the "death dealer" on her family's makeshift farm. At her mother's insistence, the family moved from D.C. to acreage in rural Virginia and embarked on a grand experiment as DIY farmers. Having no experience to guide them, they began collecting animals, from cows and horses and pigs, to sheep and goats, to cats and dogs, and all manner of poultry.    Charlotte's first time watching chicks hatch lurched from delighted wonder to a harsh lesson in the dirty work of farming and a prescribed part in the family script that would shape her life. After one of the chicks emerged deformed and quivering with its stomach outside of its skin, Charlotte's mother leaned into her daughter, just home from second grade, and hissed, "Get rid of it -- it won't live." When Charlotte asked what she should do with the misshapen chick, her mother snapped, "Figure it out!"   Charlotte was good at figuring things out, and her resourcefulness made her the go-to "super" kid in a family with an abusive narcissist mother who hit, insulted, rejected, and neglected her two daughters. Charlotte said her older sister, Maggie, adopted "learned helplessness" to cope, while Charlotte became hyperresponsible. "Our mother smacked me around more, but she criticized Maggie the most, constantly telling her she was useless. Maggie went 'spaghetti legs,' so I was the one who had to deal with stuff."   Charlotte's appointed role as scapegoat became a terrifyi...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news