This contribution will undertake a discussion of emotionally incestuous mother-son relationships. After a brief, but general discussion that defines such concepts as enmeshment, differentiation and individuation, the discussion will focus on how family system breaches adversely affect children's social and emotional development. Then specific attention will be given to the long-term adverse impacts of unhealthy mother-son relationships.
<em>This article speaks to the experience of African American grandparents assuming responsibility for raising their grandchildren when the children’s mothers are drug addicted. While most of the current research speaks generically to grandparents raising grandchildren, this clinical observation addresses issues related specifically to African American grandparents living in rural communities who are raising their addicted daughters’ minor children.</em>
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