Salvador Minuchin

And then number two, if things go sideways, I'm the one who has to absorb the fallout.

In family systems theory, which was pioneered by guys like Murray Brown and Salvador Minuchin, we call this the establishment of the family shock absorber.

In an engineering context, what does a shock absorber do? When a vehicle hits a pothole, the shock absorber compresses.

It takes the kinetic energy, and it converts it into heat, and it dampens the vibration so the passengers inside barely feel a bump.

The term parentification originates from psychology, specifically the field of family therapy.

The concept of the parental child was first introduced by Argentinian-American psychotherapist Salvador Minuchin, the founder of structural family therapy.

to describe structural reorganizations within families.

His research focused on underprivileged families in the ghettos of New York, where he observed situations in which children took on parenting and other executive roles, such as earning income or performing household repairs when their parents were unable or unwilling to fulfill these responsibilities.