Book cover of The Emotional Incest Syndrome: What to Do When a Parent's Love Rules Your Life

Book description

From Dr. Patricia Love, a ground-breaking work that identifies, explores and treats the harmful effects that emotionally and psychologically invasive parents have on their children, and provides a program for overcoming the chronic problems that can result.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Emotional Incest Syndrome as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Although this book isn’t about suicide, I include it because families with mental health issues, often exacerbated by the “anything goes” ethos of hippy culture, can suffer from confused or “enmeshed” parent/child boundaries. It was one of the first, and I think best self-help books I ever read. With great clarity, it showed me what was destructive in my family of origin. Enmeshment or “parentification,” basically using a child to meet the emotional needs of an adult, is not widely understood and often goes undetected (versus more obvious physical or sexual abuse).

Dr. Love’s book gave me straightforward guidelines for…

If you love The Emotional Incest Syndrome...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Want books like The Emotional Incest Syndrome?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Emotional Incest Syndrome.

Browse books like The Emotional Incest Syndrome

Book cover of Adult Child of Hippies
Book cover of The Art of Misdiagnosis: Surviving My Mother's Suicide
Book cover of Your Soul's Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,299

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like The Emotional Incest Syndrome, you might also like...

Book cover of Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles

Courting the Sun by Peggy Joque Williams,

Can a free-spirited country girl navigate the world of intrigue, illicit affairs, and power-mongering that is the court of Louis XIV—the Sun King--and still keep her head?

France, 1670. Sixteen-year-old Sylvienne d’Aubert receives an invitation to attend the court of King Louis XIV. She eagerly accepts, unaware of her mother’s…

Book cover of Whispers on the Wind

Whispers on the Wind by Elizabeth Revill,

Wales between the wars, a place of poverty and a world full of anguish. Yet, there is hope. Within family, within community, and most of all in the brave heart of one young girl.

Set in the lush Dulais Valley; Carrie is fated to a life of hardship and sorrow,…

5 book lists we think you will like!